Use of press: Daily Sakal, Times of India, Maharashtra Herald, Indian Express, Samana etc. newspapers responded very well to our request of giving coverage to the issue of cadaver organ donation, on the occasion of Maharashtra Cadaver Organ Donation Day.

Daily Sakal dedicated a full page in the Sunday Supplement to this issue. We provided them with informative and sharing stories and articles by doctors and patient recipients. Their reporter worked with us for more than one week and we assisted him to write a leading and a concluding article for this collection of essays. It included articles by:

1. Dr. Haridwarsingh (Emeritus Scientist and former Director of H. E. M. R. L., Pune and Liver transplant recipient)
2. Dr. Bhausaheb Morey (Medical Director of Rishikesh Medical Foundation, Nashik and Liver transplant recipient) 3. Dr. Parimal Lawate (Hepatologist, Pune)
4. Dr. Ashish Bavdekar (Pediatric Hepatologist, Pune)
5. Dr. Deodatta Chafekar (Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Nashik)
6. Mr. Deendayal Vaidya (Reporter, Sakal, Wrote the leading article narrating the story of multiorgan cadaver donation by Rekha Sardar's family at Pune in Feb. 2004 and concluding article with explanation of Brain Death in lay language)
This articles and stories were received very positively by thousands of people from all corners of Maharashtra state, who called us on telephone and expressed their wish to be an organ donor after death. We also received and are still receiving letters from all cities and towns of Maharashtra asking for details of procedure to donate cadaver organs after brain death.

Daily Sakal continued to help us spreading the message and related information in the next Sunday supplement dated 3rd April 2005. They published a follow up article by Nayan Dhamdhere, Coordinator, MOHAN Foundation, Maharashtra to clarify doubts of people regarding the terminology in this field and providing information about how to go for expressing the wish to donate vital organs, tissues or whole body after death. Since the day we are running an office to provide daily service by personally giving additional information and distributing promotional material to those people who wish to contribute towards this noble cause, by being the donor himself or herself or volunteering for the cause. It is very great news to share with you that now we have our volunteers at Karad, Ahemadnagar, Jalgaon, Goa, Pravaranagar and many more have joined hands with us in Pune. We would like to offer all the credit of the spread of this noble cause to the newspapers and especially to Daily Sakal.

Use of Electronic Media:

We had requested Akashwani Pune, Radio Mirchi and Doordarshan to give airtime to the cause of promotion of cadaver organ donation on the Maharashtra Cadaver Organ Donation Day. Pune Doordarshan received our pledge very enthusiastically and called us for shooting. One of their producers, Mrs. Anuja Deshpande spent some time with us and studied the issue in details. She narrated the program and added small sharings by Nayan Dhamdhere as a coordinator of MOHAN Foundation and Mr. Charanjeet Singh Sahani, who has filled the donor card to express his wish to donate organs after death. They also covered the ten posters prepared by us for display purpose.

This program of 20 minutes was relayed on 27th March 2005 on Doordarshan channel and is now added to their archive for repetition .Akashwani Pune and Radio Mirchi announced on the day that it is Maharashtra Cadaver Organ Donation Day and narrated a few sentences to pay respect, remembrance and homage to all the organ donors and their families all over the world who donated the organs after death.

Motor rally with mobile exhibition and street play:

One of the supporters of the noble cause of cadaver organ donation, Mr. Charanjeet Singh Sahani provided us with an open Jeep decorated by slogans and posters of cadaver organ donation message. The vehicle was equipped with a sound box and a mike for the motor rally. He also helped us in printing 2000 informative pamphlets and donor cards to distribute on the day. One more well wisher of the cause provided us with a 10-seater vehicle for transport of the volunteers. Our volunteers from Mumbai and Aurangabad traveled to Pune specially to attend the full day celebration of Maharashtra Cadaver Organ Donation Day. On the previous night, 10 banners were displayed at prime places in the Pune City. These banners were also donated by a well wisher of the cause. Seven enthusiastic volunteer artists of street play from Aurangabad reached Pune, early morning at 5.30 a.m. along with the musical instruments.

The rally started at 7.30 a.m. from Shivaji Putala in the Pune University Campus. The temporary exhibition of posters was organized at the venue. The street play group played folk music to attract morning walk people. The mob included Prof. Mr. And Mrs. Dadhichi, one of the Directors of IUCAA, Prof. Dhananjay Lokhande, Prof. Satish Shirsath, from the Adult Education Department and Mahatma Phule Adhyasan of Pune University. The street play was well received and was followed by distribution of promotional material.

The rally progressed slowly via Ganeshkhind Road to Agricultural College, Fergusson College Road to Tukaram Paduka, Balgandharva Rang Mandir, Deccan Gymkhana, Lakdi Pool, L.B.S. Road, Lokmanya Nagar to Dattawadi. The next halt was at Dattawadi for the street play and mobile exhibition. This time the show was livelier as it was a residential area and as it was a Sunday, leisure time for people. Thereafter the rally progressed to Panmala, Sinhagad Road, Dandekar Pool, Sarasbag, Bajirao Road, and Tilak Road to the Sahitya Parishad. Lunch was Preeti-Bhojan for the volunteers on behalf of our Mumbai volunteer. After the lunch the motor rally continued from Sadashiv Peth, Laxmi Road, Balgndharva Bridge, Shivajinagar Gaothan, Shivaji Putala, District Court, Sangam Bridge, RTO office, Samaj Kalyan Office, Le-Meridian, Jehangeer Hospital Chowk, Dhole Patil Road to Boat Club Road. The morning session culminated at 2.00 p.m.

The evening session of the rally started at 3.45 p.m. It progressed from Boat Club Road to Shaniwarwada. The venue was prepared for street play by arranging temporary poster display, banners etc. Mob was gathered by folk music and the program started at 6.00 p.m. Simultaneously the volunteers were interviewed by press reporters from various newspapers. They were invited specially for the program. At 6.15 the Mayor of the Pune City, Hon. Mrs. Rajani Tribhuvan arrived at the venue. She filled the donor card and in her short talk made an appeal to all the Puneites to express their wish to donate the organs after death and support the cause of cadaver organ donation. Mr. Sandeep Khardekar, Dr. Kale and Nayan Dhamdhere addressed the mob by short talks. The program ended at 7.15 p.m. The Aurangabad team left immediately. The local volunteers and well wishers had a small gathering at the end. We wished to thank all the supporters verbally for the success of the program but everybody of them denied to accept our formal words of gratitude and expressed their wish to join us henceforth in MOHAN Foundation as the hosts and volunteer for the noble cause of Promotion of Cadaver Organ Donation and Transplantation.