Chivas USA Seize the Day

By Nick Green | 100 Percent Soccer

From left, Chivas USA players Mariano Trujillo, Chukwudi Chijindu, and Michael Lahoud pose with an organ donor family member Saturday at this year's Donate Life Rose Parade Float in Pasadena (Photos courtesy Chivas USA).

For the third successive year Chivas USA and Donate Life have joined forces to create awareness for organ and tissue donation in Southern California and today players from the club joined members of the nonprofit group in helping decorate its Rose Bowl Parade float.

It's titled "Seize the Day."

"I'm happy to help those who help other people," said defender Mariano Trujillo, who assisted volunteers early in the morning Saturday, along with many Chivas USA staff members.

The float features colorful kites representing the deceased donors whose legacies soar and the hopes of those in need of transplants.

The 55-feet-long and 35-feet-high float features 30 riders (each a transplant recipient, living donor, or family member of an organ donor), 60 memorial floragraph portraits honoring deceased organ donors and thousands of roses from all 50 states and around the world.

Aptly for Chivas USA, the logos on each side of the seventh Donate Life float will again be in English and Spanish ("Done Vida").

"It's a great honor to be here," said midfielder Michael Lahoud. "It's great to see people giving their time for a noble cause."

Coming up roses: Chivas USA midfielder Michael Lahoud and other volunteers from the club put in hours from early Saturday building the float.