Nearly 100 people turned out to watch Bill, Chris and Kyle Hankee put the finishing touches on Krysta Hankee's floragraph Dec. 22, 2013, before it was featured in the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade New Year's Day in Pasadena, Calif.

The floragraph, featured on the Donate Life's "Light Up the World" float, was comprised of seeds, dried flowers and other organic elements.

The image was based on a photo of Krysta chosen by her family.

The Donate Life float included five lanterns adorned with 80 other memorial floragraph portraits of organ donors, 30 organ and tissue transplant recipients seated in a dedication garden filled with thousands of roses bearing personal messages of love, hope and remembrance.

Walking alongside the float New Year's Day in California were 12 organ donors who demonstrated their ongoing vitality.

Krysta, a 2003 graduate of Northwestern Lehigh High School, died Sept. 23, 2007, at age 22 in New York University Medical Center, New York City, N.Y. five days after collapsing while working out in a fitness facility.

She was the daughter of Bill and Christine Hankee of Germansville.

Shortly after Krysta's death, her parents established The Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund, a non-profit charity in memory of their daughter.

The foundation provides grants to graduating high school seniors planning to further their education, gas cards to ease the high cost of transportation costs related to medical treatments, and it promotes the positive impact of organ and tissue donation.

Krysta, an organ and tissue donor, saved five lives through organ donations, Bill Hankee told guests at the Dec. 22, 2013, event at Union Evangelical Lutheran Church, Schnecksville.

"She gave sight to two people through corneal transplants and donated two patches of skin to New York firefighters," he said.

Christine Hankee said the Gift of Life has provided great support to the family.

"After we found out about the floragraph, my mother told my second cousins who live in California about it," Christine Hankee said. "They contacted the Tournament of Roses and were told they could come out and help."

Christine Hankee's second cousins, Denise and Jenna Cooper, Michele Doupe, Natalie Henson and Sherri Murphy worked alongside her, Bill and son Kyle to help put the finishing touches on the float before the parade.

John Green, director of community relations for Gift of Life, spoke with The Press about the parade and the family.

"For 11 years, 58 organ procurement organizations have had a Donate Life float in the Rose Bowl parade," Green said. "When we were thinking of a family to take to California, we thought of the Hankee family.

"We wanted to honor them for all their years of service and to honor Krysta on the float, so we contacted them."

The Hankees have been very involved in promoting organ donation, he explained.

Green said this is the organization's fifth year of taking families to California to celebrate someone's life.

Cathy McCullough, health and physical education teacher at Northwestern Lehigh High School, also spoke with The Press at the December event about her former student, Krysta.

"Krysta always had a smile on her face," she said. "She was always in every service club. Krysta was a great person."

For information about the Krysta Hankee Fund, go to krystahankeememorialfund.org.

For more information about the Gift of Life donor program, go to donor1.org.