Staff WriterCenter For Caribbean Progress (CCP), in conjunction with Southern Queens Park Association, is conducting a Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive to register life saving donors on Saturday, April 25 at Roy Wilkins Family Center , Jamaica , NY, from 10am – 2pm . Members of all ethnic groups are strongly encouraged to register so that patients of all races searching for a donor have the best chance to find a match.
“With the recent news of five-year-old Jasmina Anema of New York , and Marcia Karyo-Williams, wife of Jamaica ’s Real Salt Lake soccer team player Andy Williams illnesses, the lack of African Americans and Caribbean Americans registered as bone marrow donors has come to international attention,” said CCP founder Donald Vernon. “It is our hope that a possible bone marrow match to help Jasmina, Marcia or other patients may come from our racially diverse communities of Southern Queens . Registering as a bone marrow donor is an easy process, and one of us may just save a life.”
The Center For Caribbean Progress Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive will be held at Roy Wilkins Family Center inside Roy Wilkins Park , 177 -01 Baisley Blvd, Jamaica , NY 11434, on Saturday, April 25 from 10am – 2pm . Bone Marrow Donor Registration is open to adults in good health, aged 18 to 60. Donors should bring personal identification such as a driver license or non-driver ID. A quick swab of cheek cells will be taken from donors and entered into the Registry.
Roy Wilkins Family Center is accessible from the E, J or Z trains to Parsons/Archer station, via the Q5 or Q85 buses to Baisley Blvd.
Registering to be a Bone Marrow Donor increases the likelihood that patients with leukemia, aplastic anemia and other fatal blood diseases in need of bone marrow transplants will find a donor match. At any given time, it is estimated that approximately 6,000 patients worldwide are searching for a bone marrow match. Caucasians in need of a bone marrow transplant have as much as an 80% chance of finding a match through donor registries, but for minorities the percentage drops dramatically.
Southern Queens Park Association (SQPA) is a non-profit human services organization servicing approximately 300,000 people living in the neighborhoods of South Jamaica , St. Albans , Springfield Gardens , Cambria Heights , Rochdale Village , Rosedale , Baisley Park , Queens Village , Laurelton, and South Ozone Park . SQPA operates out of 54 acre Roy Wilkins Park . The mission of Southern Queens Park Association is to maintain and enhance Roy Wilkins Park as a regional human service center for residents and children of Queens , NY .
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