2012 is gearing up to be a big year for organ and tissue donation awareness!

2012 is gearing up to be a big year for organ and tissue donation awareness!

Donate Life America, the national alliance of organizations and state teams across the United States committed to increasing organ, eye and tissue donation, has launched a new campaign called “20 Million in 2012,” which focuses on the year-end goal of registering 20 million people as organ donors.

“Donate Life celebrated 100 million registered donors in 2011, which means 42 percent of individuals age 18 and older are registered as organ and tissue donors,” says David Fleming, President and CEO of Donate Life America. “With the majority of individuals in the United States wishing to be organ and tissue donors, the biggest challenge to meeting our goal of 120 million will be getting people to take action and register today as an organ and tissue donors.”

Some of the projects in the pipeline for the coming year include the Donate Life Blue and Green Virtual Fashion Show on April 20th, Donate Life Champions in the fall and Donate Life Linking Hands for Life all year long. Look out for more information on these initiatives in the coming months.

Specifically in our area, Donate Life Pennsylvania is working to increase the donors’ designation rate from 45 percent to 48 percent. Efforts for this push will involve an ongoing campaign consisting of billboards, online advertising, a partnership with PennDOT and a renewed focus on multi-cultural communities.

Finally, Donate Life America is overseeing the “I am HOPE” story project, which features 365 incredibly powerful stories of people personally touched by organ and tissue donation. Each week, another state will feature a different story every day through their social media outlets. New Jersey started off the “I am HOPE” initiative the very first week of the campaign and Pennsylvania was featured the third week in January. Look out for Delaware’s stories later in the fall. You can watch Gift of Life TV to hear various perspectives of donation by clicking here.

You can help us get to 20 million new registered donors in 2012!  Visit here to see how.

Keep up to date on all Gift Of Life Donor Program initiatives by liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter!

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