Agency Details:

The Asian American Donor Program (AADP) is dedicated to helping save the lives of patients with life threatening blood diseases curable by a stem cell transplant.

Description:
The Asian American Donor Program is a community non-profit organization geared towards saving lives. Individuals of multi-ethnic descent (Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, African American, Mixed Race) are desperately needed to register as potential marrow/stem cell donors.

History:
History
In 1989, two Asian leukemia patients, Amanda Chiang, 9 months, and Judity Jang Berkoltz, 32, were in desperate need of bone marrow transplants. Both patients were unable to find a match within their own families. Turning to the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) Registry, the patients hoped to find unrelated marrow donors. With only 123 Asian donors listed on the National Registry, they were told that the prospects of finding compatible donors were virtually impossible.

Determined family and friends of the two patients made a statewide appeal to recruit more Asians onto the Registry. Despite the tremendous emotional and financial sacrifice which led to the sucessfull recruitment of more than 2,000 Asians, no matches were found. However, the unfortunate deaths of these two people gave birth to the compelling mission of the Asian American Donor Program (AADP) and the hope of new life to others.

Since then, AADP has grown to an organization that outreaches to and encourages all ethnic minorities to join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. In 2008, AADP expanded by launching its Latino Outreach Program.

Contact people:

James De Lara, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email) Carol Gillespie, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Address:

2169 Harbor Bay Parkway Alameda, CA 94502 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.aadp.org

Miscellaneous Information

Besides English, which languages are spoken at your agency?
	Cantonese, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese
What is the minimum age for volunteers at your agency?
	16
Is your agency wheelchair accessible?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 10?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 20?
	Yes

Last updated on June 7, 2010