Celebrating their 20th year of participation in the iconic Rose Parade® New Year’s Day celebrations, the float for this year’s Donate Life theme, Lifting Each Other Up will have dozens of participants from around the U.S., who traveled to Pasadena with their families to partake in a series of events that highlight the power of organ, eye and tissue donation.
These participants will either ride on the float or be represented on the float with a memorial floragraph or floral portrait. Sixteen people will be riding on the float, including Dr. Martha Gonzalez de Vidal, a 67-year-old Mexican American obstetrician from Hermosa Beach, Calif. who, after the COVID-19 virus destroyed her lungs, received a lifesaving double lung transplant in 2022.
The 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade® float celebrates the power of organ, eye and tissue donation, with a Chinese street dragon as the centerpiece of the float. In the Chinese culture, dragons symbolize great power and are considered a sign of good fortune and strength. Dragons bring prosperity and abundance to everyone.
The colorful dragon weaves through flowering trees, lanterns and fans, and is emblazoned with 44 memorial floragraphs, representing those who have given the gift of life.
The street dragon will be supported on poles by living donors, and surrounded by organ, eye and tissue recipients, whose lives have been transformed and have turned the corner to a more prosperous future, thanks to those who said “YES” to organ, eye and tissue donation. A traditional paifang bridge is featured in the back of the float, with a special message in Mandarin that highlights the power of the Gift of Life.
Thousands of individually dedicated roses will also be part of the 2023 Donate Life float. These roses will be placed in special pods along the float, sharing personal messages dedicated to those who have given the gift of life to others, as well as to organ recipients and transplant professionals.
Award-winning float designer Charles Meier was the creator of the float’s beautiful design, and the team at Fiesta Parade Floats.
“We are excited to return back to Pasadena for the 2023 Rose Parade,” said Tom Mone, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade float committee and chief external affairs officer of OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ, eye and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area.
“We are also proud to celebrate 20 years of sharing the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation with our participants and their families this year, as well as with the millions of people who watch America’s New Year Celebration, the Rose Parade, every New Year’s Day.”
Celebrating 20 years of participation in the Rose Parade and the Tournament of Roses’ televised special, the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade float is the center of a national effort to reach viewers from around the nation and across the globe to share the important message that organ, eye and tissue donation saves and heals lives.
The Donate Life Rose Parade float is produced by OneLegacy and is made possible thanks to dozens of sponsoring donation, transplant, healthcare, and family care organizations and individuals who help make donation and transplants possible across the country.
As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation, The Donate Life Rose Parade® float inspires viewers to help the over one million people in need of organ, eye or tissue transplants each year.
For more information on registering to become an organ, eye or tissue donor go to: DonateLife.net.