This year, Deputy Dom Calata was nominated by LifeCenter Northwest, our local organ donor organization, to be honored at the Pasadena Rose Parade on the OneLegacy national donor organization Rose Parade float. This float is sponsored annually to help raise awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation, and features floral portraits of donors, while donor recipients accompany the float on the parade route.
After being shot in the line of duty, Dom saved four lives last March with his gift of organ donation, which included lungs, kidney, pancreas and kidney, and liver. He was also able to donate bone and tissue, and his brain was donated to a scientific study for TBIs and suicide rates in military personnel at the University of Washington.
Earlier this month, the family had the opportunity to help finish Dom’s floral portrait that will be placed on the One Legacy Rose Parade float this weekend. With a little glue and some coffee grounds, Dylan and Erin completed the floragraph by filling in Dom’s eyebrows. It was a particularly special craft project! They were joined at the event by family and friends, hospital staff, and Life Center NW staff to connect, remember Dom, and honor him and his contributions. It has been amazing for us to know how he has continued to serve in this way.
The family gets to travel to Pasadena to be a part of the Rose Festival and see the float up close. The parade will be broadcast beginning at 8am PST if you want to keep an eye out for Dom’s face on the float!
We hear you, we see you, we honor the sacrifice of your beloved, Dom. We care. Thank you so much, for shining the light of goodness into the dark situation that claimed his life. God bless you.
Very humbling.