From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4, two Indiana donor families will unite to honor the life of Bryan Clauson through a floragraph for the Donate Life Rose Parade Float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif. – the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation.
Ronda Berger and daughter Krista Hardebeck have created and will present Bryan Clauson’s floragraph to his family at a “finishing event” and two families will complete the eyebrows of Bryan’s floragraph together at Clauson-Marshall Racing Shop in Fishers. A floragraph is a portrait of a deceased organ, eye and tissue donor created with organic materials.
Ronda’s daughter Jennifer Spurgeon died in an apartment fire in 2009 and Jennifer was a floragraph honoree in 2015. Clauson was an organ and tissue donor; and through the Driven2SaveLives national campaign, his family partnered with Indiana Donor Network to register more than 6,000 new donors across the country. Bryan’s image will transform into one of 44 floragraphs that will adorn the float on New Year’s Day.
The float is the centerpiece of a national effort of more than 50 organizations, including Indiana Donor Network and Donate Life Indiana, to reach a broad audience with the message that organ, tissue and eye donation saves and heals lives. The Parade is watched by an estimated 700,000 spectators and seen by over 33 million U.S. television viewers and another 30 million internationally. As a part of the honor, Bryan’s image will be transformed into one of 44 floragraphs that will adorn the Donate Life Float traveling the parade route.
This year’s Donate Life Rose Parade Float is “The Gift of Time” reflects the parade’s theme of Making a Difference by celebrating the power of kindness and the generous acts of people throughout the world, who are making a positive difference in the lives of others. The image of Bryan Clauson will be memorialized on the float in a floragraph and his family will be float riders in the parade.