MEDIA ALERT

WHAT:   Preserve Our Legacy is a not-for-profit that was founded by MCNY alum Shana Melius and her husband Brett in 2007. The couple began the organization after tirelessly working to find a match for Jaden Hilton, a young African-American boy battling leukemia. Since its founding, Preserve our Legacy has educated the minority community about stem cells and treatment options for diseases that most commonly affect people of color.  Preserve Our Legacy (POL) has partnered to create awareness and increase registration during a week of bone marrow drives with the organizations Be the Match Registry and Delete Blood Cancer.  While Be the Match registry, a nonprofit organization run by the National Marrow Donor Program experienced an 1,800% spike in donors the day Robin Roberts went public with her illness, Melius feels that there is still much work to be done in creating awareness.

The initiative, which will launch with this press conference, will feature  bone marrow drives throughout New York City, and several other educational events. The press conference will begin at 10:00 AM, followed by the start of the bone marrow drive at 11am. MCNY’s Bronx Extension Center will continue the college’s efforts on Tuesday. The organization is also continuing its ongoing partnership with Harlem Hospital during the week, as the hospital will serve as the location for the P.O.L. Cord Blood Program.  Both drives will serve a purpose that is twofold – to educate the community further about the reasons that bone marrow donations are so crucial and to sign people up to donate themselves once they are armed with this knowledge.

WHO:   Shana Melius, Founder, Preserve Our Legacy and MCNY alumna; Marvin Bing, Jr., Northeast Director of NAACP; Rodney Hilton, Jaden’s Law (Jaden’s Father), POL; Vinton Thompson, MCNY President

WHEN:   Monday, February 25, 2013,    10:00 AM – 4 PM, 10:00 AM – Press Conference, 11:00 AM – Bone Marrow Drive

WHERE:   Metropolitan College of New York, 431 Canal Street, 11th Floor Conference Center, New York, NY 10013

CONTACT:   Teresa Lyles Holmes, UniWorld Group  (212) 219-7239 (o), (914) 282-5317 (m)  Teresa.Holmes@uwgny.com

Camille Gray, UniWorld Group  (212) 219-7121 (o), (917) 200-2689 (m) Camille.Gray@uwgny.com