The meeting began with the introduction of the Billings Central Catholic High School's winning boys' basketball team. The team had a very impressive year, and their coach spoke about those successes and the future plans for the seniors on the team.
Rotarian Jock Michelotti introduced Amanda Boerboom, Hospital Development Coordinator for LifeCenter Northwest. The center works to coordinate the donation and distribution of organs and tissues. Amanda gave a brief overview of how her organization works before asking Jock to return to speak to his personal experience with organ donation.
Jock and his family have been affected by a genetic kidney disease. Jock spoke about the disease and how it had significantly shortened the lives of his relatives. He spoke about how the donation process has improved over the years and his own story of his sister-in-law donating a kidney to him, and how it has changed his life.
Amanda concluded with information about how the donors and their families are cared for and the process for donation. She spoke about her own experience with tissue donation and the impact it has had on her mobility.
For more information on the organization or donations: About Us - LifeCenter Northwest