Washington, DC (August 19, 2007) – Upper Township Beach Patrol lifeguards Bill Handley and Rod Tice are set to row 150 miles from Strathmere Beach, NJ to the Statue of Liberty starting Saturday, September 8th (weather permitting), ending Sunday, September 23rd. This Herculean effort is to raise awareness and money for three causes: Organ and tissue donation, Ocean Foundation and Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The launch is scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m. from Williams Road Beach in Strathmere, NJ and will last for a period of 6-10 days depending on weather conditions.

Four nonprofit federally certified organ procurement organizations (OPOs) have partnered to support O Liberty Row in an effort to raise awareness about saving lives through organ and tissue donation: Washington Regional Transplant Consortium, which serves the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, New York Organ Donor Network, which serves the greater New York metropolitan area, New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network, which serves more than 4,300 northern New Jersey residents waiting for a transplant, Gift of Life Donor Program, which serves the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. O liberty Row, its partners and thousands of donor families and recipients will be cheering on O Liberty Row.

O Liberty Row, the organization at the forefront of this event, is a non-profit, fundraising organization established in 2006 by Handley and Tice. “We selected these 3 organizations because they are near and dear to our hearts,” said Handley. Why organ and tissue donation? The Van Duyne Lifeguard boat that will be used in the Row was named for and dedicated to donor Adam M. Foote of Springfield, Virginia, a frequent summer visitor to Strathmere Beach prior to his untimely death.

Adam Foote was a 17 year old West Springfield, Virginia high school senior who was killed in an auto accident on March 22, 2005. He was planning to attend Pennsylvania College of Technology. Adam was a passenger in a car that was engaged in an exhibition of speeding. Today, Adam’s parents are strong supporters for organ and tissue donation and also advocates against teen drag racing.

Adam’s courageous gift saved the lives of three patients who were waiting for an organ transplant and enhanced the lives of many more through the gift of tissue donation. Almost 97,000 people are waiting for the Gift of Life in the United States, and 17 people will die everyday if they don’t receive an organ transplant.

Handley and Tice discussed completing the row after reading the book Daring the Sea, about two fisherman who rowed across the Atlantic in the 1890s, the first to do so. In 1950, several rowers went from Sandy Hook to the Statue of Liberty to commemorate the first trans-Atlantic row, a feat which inspired this similar adventure.

For more information about O Liberty Row, please go online to www.olibertyrow.org. Click on the logos to learn more about the work of each organ procurement organization supporting the effort.