SFU Students Inspired by Eva
The image of Eva Markvoort, with her signature red hair and lips ablaze and her arms clasped behind her head proudly displaying a pair of hand-painted lungs caught SFU business student, Dickson Wong’s eye while he was traveling home from school on the bus one day with a friend.
Intrigued by the photo, Dickson and his friend pulled out their iPhones to find out the story behind this lovely red-haired woman.
From reading her story on the BC Transplant and 65RedRoses websites, they learned how Eva Markvoort, a young women and double lung recipient, along with her friend and UBC medical student Cyrus MacEachern created a series of transplant-inspired photographs to celebrate awareness about organ donation and that BC Transplant had commissioned the art project as part of a BC-wide awareness campaign.
The posters have been proudly displayed on buses and Skytrains across the province since National Organ Donor Awareness Week in April (17-24) and were clearly doing there job in bringing people’s attention to the issue.
Later that month, Dickson and his SFU Project Management classmates were challenged to come up with a marketing project. Recalling the impact that Eva’s photo had on him that day on the bus, Dickson proposed a photo contest to raise awareness about organ donor registration.
After brainstorming some ideas, the vision for the We Have A Heart photo contest emerged and Dickson and his team—made up of Michael, a Computer Science major and Yolanda and Julius both Business students like himself—put together a project proposal and submitted it to BC Transplant and 65_RedRoses for their blessing and support.
While working on the project and speaking to several classmates and friends, Dickson was surprised to find out that many of his friends were not organ donors.
Dickson and his team hope that the We Have A Heart photo contest helps to get their peers thinking and talking about organ donation and hopefully registering as donors. While the contest is targeted to university students, anyone is welcome to participate.
Here’s how:
1. Submit a photo here.
2. Comment and/or vote on your favorite photos here.
3. Promote the event/contest by sharing the link with your friends.
Prizes include a $50 Best Buy gift certificate and 65_RedRoses DVDs.
The contest asks for photo submissions that communicate the theme of LOVE and/or SHARING, but entrants are welcome to interpret these terms in any way that’s meaningful to them.
When interviewing Dickson for this post, he added that it is helpful to include a description about your inspiration for the photo.
Here’s a great example that was recently submitted by Joanna Mitchell.
TITLE: Loving and Living Life DESCRIPTION: Cousins..one with a new heart...one waiting for a new heart
The contest deadline has been extended an extra day and entries will be considered if uploaded before July 18th.
The winning photo will be determined by online voting and the top entries will be exhibited at the SFU campuses in Burnaby and Surrey between July 18-20.
For full contest details and to enter, please visit: www.WeHaveAHeart.ca
In the spirit of both love and sharing, remember that becoming an organ donor costs nothing, yet for up to eight potential recipients that one donor can benefit, it can be the most valuable gift they receive.
~ Colette
@colette77 @hellocoolworld @65_RedRoses #4Eva
July 21st, 2011 at 3:46 pm
hello,
I am interested in contacting with SFU student who organized this contest. Perhaps we can exchange ideas. I would appreciate if we could sit down and talk.
Regards,
Kay