Placer Supervisors approve Donate Life Month proclamation

The Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a proclamation declaring April as Donate Life Month in the county during its consent agenda Tuesday. "We honor all those who have given the extraordinary gift of life through living and deceased donation," the proclamation reads. In addition to declaring April as Donate Life Month, the Placer County historic courthouse in Auburn was lit blue and green on April 1 and will remain on for the rest of the month. Valen Keefer, an Auburn resident and patient advocacy consultant for the transplant diagnostics business at Thermo Fisher Scientific, said the county will present her with the proclamation during a lighting ceremony Friday, April 22, which is National Donate Life Blue and Green Day. The ceremony will consist of the executive director of Sierra Donor Services, the organ procurement organization that serves Placer County, sharing the organization's role, Deana Santana sharing the impact of her son becoming an organ donor, music by Austin Scarpino and Keefer sharing her story as a kidney and liver transplant recipient. Keefer said there will be a moment of silence to honor donors. "I'm really excited to gather the community together and provide, I think, a really impactful, educational and inspirational program," Keefer said. After the event, the community is invited to mingle and take pictures of the courthouse. The lighting ceremony will be at 7 p.m. outside the courthouse, 101 Maple Street.