Middle Tennessee families with a common bond came together for a special event at the Nashville Zoo.
Families of organ and tissue donors and transplant recipients united to raise awareness of the importance of donation.
More than 150 people gathered for the celebration, which was hosted on Saturday by Tennessee Donor Services.
Signs with the names of donors lined walkways, and donor families were honored with Gift of Life medals.
For participants, it was a chance to share their stories and encourage more Tennesseans to register to be donors.
“As you go through the process and the journey, we gained a new family, a family of other donors and people, recipients, and it makes your loved ones legacy live on,” said Joann Ferrell.
Nationally, there have currently been more than 120,000 people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants. That number has been at 2,900 in Tennessee.
