OneLegacy Rose Parade Float Co-Sponsored by Furniture Store

December 28, 2025  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

With ages ranging from a 21-month baby, to a 75-year-old man for floragraph honorees, and from a 17-year-old teen to a 76-year-old man for riders and walkers, these participants and their families will travel to Pasadena to be part of America’s Donate Life celebration on New Year’s day’s iconic Rose Parade®.

45 organ, eye and tissue donors, recipients and living donors will be a part of the 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float on the iconic 2026 Rose Parade.

The 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float, Treasure Every Moment Together, will feature:

—12 riders who are organ and tissue recipients

—4 walkers, who are living organ donors

—29 floragraphs or floral portraits representing organ, eye and tissue donors who gave the gift of life to others.

The 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float 12 riders include a 17-year-old young athlete and high school student whose life was healed thanks to a tissue donor, as well as 11 other amazing individuals who received lifesaving organ transplants and have dedicated their time to share their stories and inspire others to say “YES” to organ, eye and tissue donation.

The 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float participants include:

Braxton McKeirnan, a high school student and varsity athlete from Pomeroy, WA, who received two healing bone grafts to repair his shoulder after several sports injuries while playing football.

Brenda Johnson, a 74-year-old grandma from Los Angeles, CA, who received a liver in 2009 and a special kidney transplant from Elmer Valenzuela and Samer Flaih in 2017.

Byron Thompson, a heart transplant recipient from Los Angeles. A caring community of friends stepped up to help Byron heal after his transplant surgery.

Christian Gomez, an 18-year-old high school student from Watsonville, CA who suffered from biliary atresia as an infant, and whose mom donated a lobe of her liver to save his life. Earlier this year, Christian’s liver began to fail, and he received a second liver, thanks to a selfless donor.

Damita Barbee, a 74-year-old double lung transplant recipient from Antioch, CA, who has retired from a career in financial services and who now enjoys spending time with her mom and daughters. Damita is sponsored by Donor Network West.

Elsa Garcia-Chau, a 61-year-old retired schoolteacher and heart transplant recipient from Artesia, CA, now enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, thanks to her donor. She also volunteers her time as a OneLegacy Ambassador.

Isabel Sabori, a 46-year-old heart and double lung transplant recipient and OneLegacy Ambassador from Woodland Hills, CA, who left everything behind to move from her small town of Benjamin Hill in Mexico, to California, after being diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension.

Jamie Alcroft, a heart and liver transplant recipient, comedian, author, voice actor, and passionate OneLegacy Ambassador from Los Angeles, CA, who shares the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation through humor, storytelling, and community engagement, most recently creating LAFF4LIFE comedy club initiative.

Lauren Martelle, a 38-year-old liver recipient from Spark, Nevada, was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening disease that affected her liver. She currently volunteers her time to share the importance of organ donation.

Lorenzo Luarca Beronilla, a celebrity chef and actor from Saugerties, NY who received a lifesaving heart transplant after experiencing heart failure and who now films commercials, cooking segments and independent films.

Mark Kessler, a heart recipient from New York, NY who has led a global career in the hospitality industry, living in many countries around the world.

Samer Flaih, a hard-working family man from Syria who is a long-time resident of Goleta, CA whose kidneys were failing after suffering from an auto-immune disease, and who generously re-gifted a kidney he received from Elmer Valenzuela to Brenda Johnson.

Four living donors, who gave the gift of life to others by donating their kidney or a lobe of their liver, will walk alongside the 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float. Three of this year’s walker honorees became living donors to save their mothers.

The 2026 OneLegacy Donate life float walkers include:

April Wilson, a 47-year-old living liver and kidney donor from Denver, IA, who donated a lobe of her liver to save her mother’s life, and who later decided to become an altruistic living kidney donor to save another person’s life.

Raquel Armstrong, a 48-year-old living liver donor from Stockton, CA who donated a lobe of her liver to save her mother’s life.

Sheila Rodriguez, a public safety dispatcher from Ontario, California, who donated a lobe of her liver to someone in need, and who volunteers her time as a OneLegacy Ambassador.

Sparkal Day, a camera operator for CBS2/KCAL9 in Los Angeles who has always been inspired by the OneLegacy Donate Life float, especially after she donated one of her kidneys to save her mother’s life.

Floragraph Honorees

This year’s float will feature 29 deceased donors whose images are being memorialized with floral portraits or floragraphs representing medallions inside and around the treasure chest on the 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float. These donors gave the ultimate gift of life to save and heal lives through the power of organ, eye and tissue donation. The floral portraits were decorated using organic materials like cinnamon, rice, farina, coffee and other organic seeds.

The 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float floragraph honorees can be seen at this link. Reading the bios of these donors is inspiring and very much worth reviewing.

—Aidan Joseph “AJ” Skinner, a 12-year-old student and aspiring chef from Reading, MA

—Andrew Bedard, an 8-year-old student and soccer player from Morgan Hill, CA

—Carlos Woods, a young exotic animal lover from Maywood, who passed away at 18

—Chad Stacy, an U.S. Marine and family man from Olathe, KS

—Daniel Matthew Rios, a 21-month-old baby from Victorville

—Drew Wilson-Chan was a bright and cheerful 4-year-old boy from San Diego, CA

—Elmer Valenzuela, a hard-working father and husband from Lawndale

—Erik Rushford, a 22-year-old kind and generous young man from Walton Beach, FL

—Jaime de los Santos, a devoted plumber, loyal friend, and family man from Van Nuys, CA

—James Reeve, a boat racing enthusiast from Kingsburg, CA

—Jayden Saenz, a 3-year-old boy from Santa Clarita, CA

—Jeffrey Ng, a gentle and caring dentist from Yucaipa, CA

—Jenny Fedele Fennel, an aspiring nurse and mother of one from Riverside

—Jordan Brister, an 18-year-old student and athlete from Las Vegas, NV

—Katie Sedor, a young woman from La Verne, CA

—Kevin Morales Avena, a young man from Fontana, CA

—Lilyanne “Lily” James, a 3-year-old toddler from Waretown, NJ

—Lloyd Nilson, a speed and adventure enthusiast from Rubidoux, CA

—Mark Daniel Flores, a 20-year-old behavior specialist from Southern California

—Micah Moyer, a teen from Apple Valley

—Miranda Araya, a 16-year-old from Northridge

—Natalie McCleary, a 13-year-old student from Muscatine, IA

—Patrice Sanders, a 59-year-old pediatric nurse

—Peter Lee, a 66-year-old man from Sparks, NV

—Raejonette Morgan, a 23-year-old vibrant, young woman from Inglewood

—Scott McGreevy, a 32-year-old personal trainer from San Francisco

—Skylar Saunders, an 11-year-old girl who was raised in Pasadena

—Thomas Dolan, a 75-year-old car visionary from Reno, NV

—Vivian Lefferts, a 66-year-old mother, wife and organ donation advocate from Canton, IL

The OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float is produced by OneLegacy, designed by Charles Meier, built by Artistic Entertainment Services (AES) and made possible thanks to more than 20 sponsors, including: Allied World, Bridge to Life, Donate Life California, Center for Donation and Transplant, Donor Network West, Evergen Donor Services, Iowa Donor Network, JRF Ortho, LifeNet Health, Lifesharing, Midwest Transplant Network, Nevada Donor Network, NJ Sharing Network, New England Donor Network, Nu Acoustics, OneLegacy, Palm Mortuaries & Cemeteries, Powers Furniture, Sallop, Sanofi, Specialist Direct, UCLA Health and the Zenith.

As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation, the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® float inspires viewers to help the over 1 million people in need of organ, eye or tissue transplants each year. Register today to become an organ, eye or tissue donor by visiting registerme.org.