New England Donor Services (NEDS) Banner Raising

To kick-off National Donate Life Month, which is celebrated every year in April, New England Donor Services (NEDS) will be hosting a banner raising event at Waltham City Hall to bring awareness to the importance of organ and tissue donation. On Wednesday, April 1st at 11:00 AM, Waltham Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, State Senator Mike Barrett, City Councilors, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, MA Department of Public Health will join NEDS and donor families for this special event. Local donor recipients and families will share their stories of how receiving a life-saving transplant has impacted their lives. Craig Weiner a liver recipient will share his story.

The banner raising in Waltham is the first of a series of NEDS National Donate Life Month events. NEDS will be hosting events across New England, including at the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island State Houses, in addition to several city hall events in Newton and Springfield, MA; Manchester, NH; and Warwick, RI. NEDS will also be hosting a series of flag raising events across Connecticut, at UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Each event will bring together communities who have been impacted by organ donation to commemorate this important month and raise awareness for the life-saving importance of organ donation.

This year’s National Donate Life Month comes as NEDS achieved a record number of transplants last year. In 2025, NEDS coordinated organ donations from 640 deceased donors resulting in 1,692 life-saving transplants. This record number of organ transplants represents the fifth consecutive year of growth and places NEDS among the nation’s top three organ procurement organizations (OPOs) by donor and transplant volume. Since 2020, NEDS has increased the number of life-saving organ transplants from New England organ donors by 65 percent. In addition, the organization’s Aftercare team provided services to 3,390 new donor families last year. In 2025, NEDS also coordinated 1,628 donor family and recipient letters, and 1,426 individuals impacted by organ donation attended NEDS-sponsored events. Learn more at https://neds.org/ or follow us on LinkedIn or on X at @NEDonorServices.

Speakers will include:

●      Mayor Jeannette McCarthy

●      State Senator Mike Barrett

●      Waltham City Councilors

●      RMV and MA DPH

●      Craig Weiner – liver recipient

●      Individuals touched by organ donation

●      Matt Boger, Sr. Director of Government Relations, NEDS