FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, April 30, 2010

April is Donate Life Month in New York State and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Commissioner David J. Swarts has announced that New York State DMV has collected nearly $165,000 for the Life Pass It On Trust Fund since 2004 through the sale of custom license plates and a $1 check-off box on license and non-driver identification forms.

"Since the New York State Organ Donation Registry was established in 2000 by the NYS Department of Health (DOH) and DMV, our Department has been instrumental in dramatically increasing awareness about organ donation among millions of New Yorkers, first through inserts in license renewal mailings, and later through advertising on most registration renewal forms. More recently, we complemented these efforts by displaying organ donation posters in our issuing offices and have coupled raised awareness with an opportunity for motorists to support organ donation by purchasing a special license plate or making a $1.00 donation to the Life Pass It On Trust Fund. These activities, as well as making it easy for customers to indicate that they want to be included in the donor registry, demonstrate our commitment to this important cause," said Commissioner Swarts.

The sale of custom license plates, which DMV began offering in 2004, has brought more than $34,000 to the Life Pass It On Trust Fund. Solicitation of voluntary $1 donations to the Life Pass It On Trust Fund began in February, 2007, resulting in more than $130,000 being deposited in the Fund to date.

Since the NYS Organ Donor Registry began, the DMV has developed successful partnerships with the DOH-affiliated not-for-profit New York Alliance for Donation (NYAD) and NYAD's member organ procurement/donation organizations (OPOs). The registry began accepting donors in June 2000 and to date DMV has enrolled more than 95 percent of the two million donors in the registry through license, permit and non-driver ID transactions.

There are several ways to become an organ donor:

1. Become a donor any time, free of charge, by going to the DOH Web site (www.health.ny.gov ), the NYAD Web sites (www.donatelifenys.net or www.alliancefordonation.org ) or any of the regional OPO Web sites to which DMV's Web site links and fill in, print, sign and mail your enrollment form to DOH.
2. Become a donor during any DMV license, permit or non-driver ID transaction, or just by completing an MV-44 application and signing the donor consent certification on the form. There is no charge for signing up as a donor at DMV if it is part of a license or non-driver ID transaction.

If you enroll through a DMV transaction, your license, permit or non-driver identification card will show that you are an organ donor. If you enroll through DOH or another organization, your DMV document will not have a donor logo on it.

If you would like more information about the program and how you can help, please visit DMV's Web site (www.dmv.ny.gov), which has links to organ and tissue donation information.