The 2023 float honored 59 organ, eye and tissue donors and recipients and received the parade’s highest award.
LifeShare and Donate Life, who recently celebrated 20 years of participation in the traditional Rose Parade in Pasadena, won the highest award in the parade for the first time. The float received the Sweepstakes Award.
The 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade float, “Lifting Each Other Up,” featured 59 honorees representing 24 states in the United States.
With ages ranging from 17 to 78 years old for riders and walkers, and from 3 and a half months old to 68 years old for floragraph honorees, these participants and their families traveled to Pasadena to be part of America’s Donate Life celebration on New Year’s Day’s traditional Rose Parade.
The 2023 Donate Life Float featured:
- 4 walkers, including living donors, as well as organ recipients
- 16 riders who are organ and tissue recipients
- 39 floragraphs (floral portraits) representing organ, eye and tissue donors who gave the gift of life to others.
In total, 39 deceased donors were memorialized with floral portraits or floragraphs placed on the body of the legendary Asian dragon which serves as the centerpiece of the 2023 Donate Life float. These donors gave the ultimate gift of life to save and heal others through the power of organ, eye and tissue donation. The floragraphs were made using organic materials like rice, farina, coffee, yellow millet and cinnamon. Read the bio to all 39 floragraph honorees for the 2022 Donate Life float.
