Donate Life Pennsylvania (Donate Life-PA), a partnership of the state’s two organ procurement organizations and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, encourages Pennsylvanians to give the most precious gift a person can give – the gift of life – this holiday season by registering to be an organ and tissue donor.

“The holidays are a time when many celebrate with family and friends, but for some families across Pennsylvania, the reason this is a happy holiday season is because someone gave them the gift of life,” said Acting Secretary of Health Michael Wolf. “Registering as an organ and tissue donor can be as simple as checking a box when renewing your driver’s license or state I.D. or by visiting our website, donatelife-pa.org. Either way, the impact can be literally life changing.”

There are 8,000 people in Pennsylvania waiting for an organ transplant, yet only 45 percent of the state’s licensed drivers have registered as donors.

“Without the precious gift that someone gave me, I would not be able to share this Christmas and New Year with my family,” said (Recipient). “I can’t express how thankful I am to the person who made the decision to donate his or her organs and to the family who supported that decision.”

Recipient story here

“There are so many people waiting for a second chance at life, and by simply making the decision now that you want to be an organ donor, you may be able to save lives someday,” said (recipient).

Earlier this year, Donate Life Pennsylvania unveiled its 2012 organ and tissue donor campaign – a targeted effort to increase the number of registered donors in the state and across the nation. A component of the national effort led by Donate Life America, the overall goal of the campaign is to add 20 million new registered organ and tissue donors nationwide in 2012. Pennsylvania is working to add 150,000 new donors as a part of this outreach.