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HALLMARK ORIGINAL MOVIE PUMPS ORGAN DONOR AWARENESS FEBRUARY 14 IS NATIONAL DONOR DAY
�A STRANGER�S HEART,�
A HALLMARK ORIGINAL MOVIE, PREMIERES MAY 5
Story Of A Cynical Woman Who Gets a Second Chance at Life;
Samantha Mathis, Peter Dobson, Kevin Kilner and Mary Matilyn Mouser Star
In The Inspiring Story About Living in the Moment
Hallmark Channel � America�s supplier of high-quality, family programming - announced
today the network plans to use its original movie, �A Stranger�s Heart,� to pump national organ
donor awareness. The network is beginning by calling attention to February 14, which is
designated �National Donor Day� by the U.S. Health & Human Services Department. Health &
Human Services, which oversees access to the U.S. government�s information on organ and tissue
donation and transplantation at www.organdonor.gov, proclaims February 14 �National Donor
Day� in an effort to focus on five fundamentals of life-saving organ donation: Organ, tissues,
marrow, platelets and blood.
In the first phase of the Hallmark Channel awareness campaign, the network will send
thousands of Lotto Scratchers with organ donor registry cards in a package tagged �Life�s a
gamble�Be a winner!� The campaign is aimed at substantially increasing available organs for
transplantation through consumer messages of �Most people can donate,� �You can never be too
old!� and �Don�t rule yourself out!� The network will announce other consumer campaigns leading
up to the premiere of �A Stranger�s Heart,� Saturday, May 5 (9/8c).
More than 90,000 patients currently await a life-saving organ transplant. An average of 19
people die each day because not enough organs are available to meet the need. Procedures vary
from state to state, but online registration is available in many states. Demand for transplants
among minority populations is disproportionately high and traditional minority representation
among donor pools needs to be strengthened. Hallmark Channel sees its campaigns as an
opportunity to reach out to minority communities.
Hallmark Channel has announced organ donor awareness as one of two pro-social network
initiatives for 2007 (Alzheimer�s Disease is the other).
�A Stranger�s Heart� is the story of Callie, a workaholic magazine writer who must undergo
an operation to replace her failing heart. While waiting in the hospital for the operation, she
meets other people who are awaiting transplants. Even though their optimism does not mirror
Callie�s, the eclectic group takes her under their wing. When her procedure is successful, Callie
becomes a new woman, literally. Although she tries to reclaim her old life, and resume the hectic
pace she had become accustomed to, Callie finds that her work no longer consumes her the way it
once did. Her eyes have been opened to new possibilities for her life. Now, instead, she finds
herself strangely drawn to a young girl, who happens to be the heart donor�s orphaned daughter.
She also finds romance � for the first time in her life � with a fellow heart transplant patient.
Samantha Mathis, Kevin Kilner, Peter Dobson and Mary Matilyn Mouser star in �A Stranger�s
Heart.�
Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic
cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a
national audience of over 75 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed
through more than 5,300 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite
services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported
cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation�s leading network
in providing family-friendly programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear
channel, Hallmark Movie Channel.
-- HALLMARK CHANNEL --
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