
My daughter received her heart on a Tuesday. Somewhere, another mother said yes. We carry her name with us forever.
Renee J.
Recipient's Mother — Atlanta

A Storytelling & Advocacy Movement
Maiya's Heart Project is a legacy-driven movement transforming the conversation around organ donation — through storytelling, representation, faith, and the families who keep love in motion.

Maiya's Story
Maiya was born with a heart that loved bigger than her body could hold. She was bright, brave, deeply faithful — and she lived her years on the transplant waiting list with a grace that quietly changed every room she entered.
When her mother, Sharnell Lydia, lost Maiya before that one yes could reach her, she made a promise: that no other family in our communities would feel this alone, and no other story would go unheard.
Maiya's Heart Project is the continuation of her light — a movement built from grief, grown with love, and given freely to every family still waiting.
Real Stories. Real Families. Real Impact.
Recipients, donor families, caregivers, and advocates — gathered in their own words. This is the heart of the movement.

My daughter received her heart on a Tuesday. Somewhere, another mother said yes. We carry her name with us forever.
Renee J.
Recipient's Mother — Atlanta

Our church never talked about donation until Maiya's family came. Now we do. That is what legacy looks like.
Pastor Elijah W.
Faith Partner — Detroit

Saying yes for my husband was the hardest love I ever gave. Knowing four people walked home because of him — that is how I keep him here.
Amara T.
Donor Family — Houston
Every story shifts a generation. Yours could be the one a family is waiting to hear.
Share Your Story →Our Focus
Reframing donation as an act of love, faith, and legacy — not a clinical decision.
Closing the representation gap with culturally rooted education and trusted voices.
Honoring donor families and recipients through immersive, dignified narrative work.
Partnering with churches and pastors to bring the conversation into sacred spaces.
Building living tributes — scholarships, gatherings, and movements named for the loved.
Creating soft places for grief, joy, and the long work of carrying love forward.

Changing the Face of Organ Donation
For decades, the donation conversation has skipped over the people most impacted by the wait. We are changing that — through trusted voices, faith spaces, and stories that look like home.
Conversations grounded in our histories, not statistics.
Built through proximity — neighbor to neighbor, pew to pew.
Stories that reflect the families actually waiting.
Advocacy that holds grief with the same tenderness as hope.
A Year in Movement
Our calendar is a rhythm of remembrance and renewal — not isolated events, but a national heartbeat.
Opening the year with stories of recipients and the donors who made tomorrow possible.
A national push to register, talk to family, and pass the conversation forward.
Honoring Maiya's birthday with community gatherings, art, and remembrance.
Candlelight walks across cities for the families still waiting and the ones who said yes.
Sacred dialogue in churches and homes about love, choice, and what we leave behind.
Community & Events

Cities walking together at sunrise — every step honoring a name on the list.

An evening procession for the families waiting and the ones who said yes.

Intimate evenings where donor families, recipients, and advocates share unfiltered.

Sunday conversations, pulpit collaborations, and pastor-led donor education.
Get Involved
Lend your hands to gatherings, walks, and outreach in your city.
Sign up 02Bring our work to your church, school, hospital, or organization.
Start a conversation 03Carry the message into the rooms only you can walk into.
Join the circle 04Recipient, donor family, caregiver — your voice is the movement.
Tell us 05Underwrite a season, a walk, a storytelling night, a scholarship.
Explore sponsorships 06Every gift fuels the storytelling, the outreach, and the work ahead.
Give now
Legacy in Motion
Maiya's light is no longer waiting. It is walking — through every family who registers, every pastor who preaches it, every story shared, every name remembered. Add yours.