Season’s greetings to all DSR members!
Yesterday we officially had our 6000 matched person on the Donor Sibling Registry. Keep in mind that there are most likely at least 25% more matches that are not listed on the DSR.
This week we uploaded a Video page with several DSR news stories from the first one in 2002 through this year.
We have a had a very successful year presenting research and educating the industry on the experiences and needs of donor families around the globe. Between us and our partners at Cambridge University, we’ve presented in Europe, Australia, and the US. One of these papers is about to be published in the journal Human Reproduction. Additionally, egg donor research conducted with Dr. Jennifer Schneider will be presented in Scotland in January of 2009. All very exciting!
This year we organized and completed a GLBT outreach project which included partering with several GLBT organizations and advertising in several magazines and newsletters.
The big media news for 2008 was certainly Oprah. For any of you that might have missed it, it is one of the videos we now have on the video page, it’s worth checking out. To all the DSR families who have participated in media with us- thanks so much. It is because of your willingness to talk publicly, that so many others have learned about the DSR and the possibilities of connecting.
This year we also added the “medical” and “donor q & a” pages on the DSR for families to share important medical information, and donor to share non-identifying information with their genetic offspring. If you are a donor, please fill out the questionnaire so that your offspring can learn a bit about you. This is a great tool for people who wish to share information, but maybe connect more slowly. Only your matches have access to viewing these pages.
We continue to hear the most amazing stories of people connecting with half siblings and/or donors on the site. We feel privileged to be able to serve all of you- our lives are so much richer for it!
Wendy and Ryan