For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD — When Cindy Dischinger learned she was a candidate for a kidney transplant, she had hope for a future beyond three-hour dialysis every three days. The kidney she eventually received from a friend returned Dischinger to health and left her with a sense of gratitude.

Through its monthly Employee-Driven Corporate Giving program, Security Health Plan of Wisconsin Inc. is donating $1,000 to Central Wisconsin Gift of Life, which seeks to educate the community about the need for organ donation. Dischinger, a Marshfield Clinic Health System employee who received a kidney donation in 2013, nominated Central Wisconsin Gift of Life for the award.

“(Kidney donation) gave me back my life,” Dischinger said. “There’s no way I can ever do enough to express my thanks, but I’m trying.”

Central Wisconsin Gift of Life was founded by Dr. Jill Dillon, an optometrist at Marshfield Clinic Wisconsin Rapids Center, and Sara Solinsky, a Security Health Plan employee who underwent a successful kidney transplant in 2011.

Through its annual scavenger hunt and other fundraisers, Central Wisconsin Gift of Life contributes to University of Wisconsin Donor Education Fund and Restoring Hope Transplant House, Wisconsin’s first transplant recovery house, located near University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospital and Clinics. Dischinger and others find inspiration in projects like these that “fill a void” in community awareness of transplant need.

Every month Security Health Plan donates $1,000 as part of its Employee-Driven Corporate Giving campaign. Marshfield Clinic Health System employees are encouraged to nominate an organization that is making a positive difference in the community.