The announcement continues the NFL’s close relationship with Zaidee’s, which was also the Official Charity of last year’s finals series.
All teams competing in the NFL junior finals will be encouraged to wear Zaidee’s Rainbow Shoelaces to help spread awareness about Organ and Tissue Donation.
If all teams competing in the NFL junior finals series commits to the cause, we will see approximately 2,400 children aged between 9 and 17-years-old sporting Zaidee’s Rainbow Laces.
NFL ambassador and former North Melbourne captain Brent Harvey was delighted with the partnership.
“Having been involved with Zaidee’s in the past and worn the laces myself in AFL matches I am fully supportive of the great work the foundation does,” Harvey said.
“The partnership between the NFL and Zaidee’s is a wonderful example of Communities Working Together and adds further strength to the great social conscience that the NFL has already developed over the past few years.”
Kim and Allan Turner created Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation in memory of their daughter, Zaidee Turner, who tragically and suddenly died in 2004 at the age of seven after suffering a burst blood vessel in her brain.
In the year she died, Zaidee was the only Victorian child to donate her organs and tissues, and one of only six children to donate from the whole of Australia. Her gift saved or improved the lives of up to seven other people.
On average around 140,000 Australians die each year but the number of organ and tissue donors numbers only sits in the hundreds.
In 2011, 337 people gave the greatest gift of all and donor numbers this year have increased again.
Allan Turner, CEO of Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation said it was important for families to discuss the option of organ and tissue donation.
“By encouraging parents to speak to their children about organ and tissue donation we hope that those family members currently on the transplant waiting list will have a better chance of receiving their transplant in time,” Mr Turner said.
Currently there are 50 children under the age of 19 years waiting for a transplant in Australia. Many of these kids will die in the next 12 months before they receive a transplant due to the lack of donors at the end of life.
Zaidee gave the greatest gift of all after she died, her organs and tissue, so others could live a better life and, in some cases, get another chance at life.
For more information about how to register as an organ and tissue donor, or to download a registration form, please go to 
www.zaidee.org.
