ORLANDO, Fla. – Local leader and organ donation advocate Rosemarie Roth was recently recognized by U.S. Congressman Darren Soto for her community building through advocacy.
Tuesday in belated honor of June being Caribbean Heritage Month, Bridgett chatted with Roth about her legacy.
Roth, a Jamaican American, currently serves as a volunteer with Our Legacy and has been instrumental in organ donation awareness for decades.
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It started when she led a campaign to help a friend find a kidney donor.
Her efforts led to her becoming instrumental in the charge to add the organ donor designation to Florida Driver’s Licenses.
“Because of my advocacy, they nominated me to become the first black female president for Organ Donation Foundation and I became the spokesperson for organ donation. During that time, they were lobbying for organ donation to be placed on our driver’s license, so I was very honored to be the president at that time,” she said.
Roth is also a leader in the Caribbean American community where she works to erase stigmas around being an organ donor to help save more lives.
“There are ways we can educate the community that we can harvest these organs and life can continue,” Roth said. “So for me, since I’m so involved in the community, I want to make sure I’ll be continuing when I’m gone. The slogan at the time when I was president was, ‘don’t take your organs to heaven for heaven knows we need them here’ so if we can leave a legacy behind. I would like to build a hospital, but just in case I don’t do it, maybe my organs can be transplanted in someone who has that aspiration and my legacy will continue,” she said.
Roth is also founder and president of Jamaican Cultural Connection, secretary of Caribbean Chamber Of Commerce. And this week, Roth’s life story was added to the U.S. Congressional Record where she was recognized by U.S. Congressman Darren Soto for her community building through advocacy.
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