Donate Life Pennsylvania, a partnership of the state’s two organ procurement organizations and the Pa. Department of Health, presents the AND1 LIVE! Streetball Tour in four Pennsylvania cities.

The AND1 LIVE! Tour will take place on Friday, May 18 from 6 – 9 p.m. in Harrisburg High School’s Kimber Gymnasium, located at 2451 Market St. in Harrisburg. Donate Life-PA’s goals will be to inform attendees about the importance of organ and tissue donation and to dispel the common myths and misconceptions surrounding organ donation.

The AND1 LIVE! Tour highlights the talents of some of Streetball’s leading stars. The mission of the tour is to serve the community and promote positive and healthy role models for today’s youth. Through the partnership, Donate Life-PA hopes to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation in the multicultural community as well as the 18-24 age group.

“During the next few months, Donate Life-PA will emphasize registration among minority donors because they provide the greatest hope for the more than 2,700 African Americans in Pennsylvania awaiting an organ or tissue transplant,” said Susan Stuart, President & CEO of the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE). “Individuals of the same ethnic background are most likely to have similar blood types and make good donor matches.”

Currently African Americans represent 32 percent of Pennsylvanians waiting for organ donor transplants but only 11 percent of Pennsylvania’s total population. This means 64 percent of African American Pennsylvanians in need of an organ transplant have been on the waiting list for more than one year, and nearly eight percent have been waiting for five or more years.

Pennsylvanians can add the organ donor designation to their driver’s licenses or state identification cards anytime – it only takes 90 seconds.