A silhouette of the young man who sparked the Green Shirt Day initiative through his organ donation is the highlight of the newly unveiled shirt design.
Green Shirt Day is marked every year on April 7th to honour the victims of the 2018 Humboldt Bronco’s bus crash, including 21-year-old Logan Boulet, and their families. Before the crash, the 21-year-old had shared his wishes with his family to donate his organs, and on April 7th, 2018 he saved six people with his organ and tissue donations. Nearly 150,000 Canadians registered their own donation decision after learning about Boulet’s selfless act, which is known to this day as the Logan Boulet Effect.
Bernie Boulet says to see the Lethbridge community continue to honour her son. She shares that the continued talk about Green Shirt Day is not only heartwarming but also shows people continue to see the impact and difference organ donation can make.
“When anybody passes away you want to make sure that you have a legacy – you hope that you have a legacy – and we’re thankful that the people here in Lethbridge and southern Alberta continue to recognize that legacy and that Logan does have one,” she says. “That day in April 2018 was a really hard day for us and just to know that people still support us, that people remember.”
Toby Boulet adds since their son made his donation on that April day in 2018 they saw a strong number of donations being made and while the pandemic slowed donations down like everything else in the world, but have been seeing the numbers go up again.
“Sadly, I’ll say this, the fentanyl crisis in Canada has provided many organ donors in Canada and now that the fentanyl crisis is kind of getting a little bit under control; there’s less deaths, they’ve seen a slip in actual organ donations. That’s sad, in that we had to wait for a crisis to get more organs. We need people to follow the Logan Boulet Effect – think about themselves [to register], be inspired by someone,” he says.
“Knowing that there is a large list of people who are willing to give, I think is important for people who are waiting for organs and tissues, just to know that someone thinks that they matter,” Bernie adds. “The fact that we can now have living donors of kidneys, livers, makes a huge difference too and that will give new life to people as they wait.”
She says with the advances in medical technology their family hopes is they will inspire people to become either living donors or registered donors in case they pass.
The Boulet family is encouraging not just the Lethbridge community but those across the country to plan their own Green Shirt Day organ and tissue donation awareness event.
In Lethbridge, the family is also inviting the community to take part in the annual Green Shirt Day Free Family Skate at the Logan Boulet Arena from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on April 7th.
