A graduating student from Abbotsford is among four recipients of BC Transplant’s 2022 “Live Life. Pass it On.” scholarship.
Harleen Dhaliwal of Rick Hansen Secondary is among the students who led an organ donation awareness project in their schools and earned the $1,500 scholarship.
She held a Green Shirt Day on April 7, ensuring that it was inclusive for everyone. The day involved Dhaliwal handing out more than 600 green-yarn wristbands for students to show support for organ donation, for those who didn’t have a green shirt or jersey to wear.
She provided teachers with brochures, posters and documentary links they could share with their classrooms to explain the importance of Green Shirt Day and the Logan Boulet Effect.
Boulet was a hockey player for the Humboldt Broncos who died of his injuries the day after the team’s bus was struck by a semi-trailer near Armley, Sask. on April 6, 2018. Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured.
Boulet’s parents offered to donate his organs so six people could live on. It is estimated that almost 150,000 people registered to become organ donors in the weeks that followed.
RELATED: Logan Boulet Effect: Green Shirt Day calls on Canadians to become organ donors
Green Shirt Day was created to remember the victims of the fatal crash and to inspire Canadians to talk to their families and register as organ donors.
In her efforts, Dhaliwal discovered that one of her teachers had a personal connection to the tragic Humboldt Broncos crash and personally knew some of the young players who died.
This inspired Dhaliwal to do more, and she created a legacy video for the school to use for future Green Shirt Days.
“I have always admired the power of influence to implement change. I’ve grown to be more self-conscious and aware of the influence I, too, can have on my community,” she said.
Dhaliwal said she wants to graduate from high school with the certainty that Boulet’s story will not be forgotten.
She begins her post-secondary studies at Simon Fraser University later this year, and hopes to become a pediatrician.
RELATED: Three years after Broncos bus crash, Logan Boulet still inspiring organ donation
