With the cost of a transplant often exceeding $500,000, many transplant patients are unable to shoulder the financial burden of such a procedure. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-needy patients. In Naperville, volunteers are raising funds for transplant patients like five-year-old Ella Hafenrichter.

Born on November 13, 2004, Ella was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure in 2009, and doctors at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois performed a life-saving kidney transplant on March 25, 2010. Volunteers in Naperville, IL and Albuquerque, NM are seeking to raise $60,000 to help with Ella's estimated transplant-related medical expenses.