Donate Life Month Goes Digital as COVID-19 Pandemic Forces New Yorkers to Stay Home

New York, NY (April 1, 2020) – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Governor Cuomo’s stay at home order, National Donate Life Month will be entirely digital in New York this year and will feature inspirational blog posts and social media messages about this important cause. The month is hosted by LiveOnNY, the nonprofit organization tasked with overseeing organ, eye and tissue donation in the greater New York City area. The month was designed to raise awareness and inspire New Yorkers to register as lifesaving organ donors. For the third straight year, Donate Life Month will culminate in an online, region-wide “Moment of Gratitude” for organ donors and their families.

“We are living through unprecedented times with the spread of COVID-19 and our hospital partners are working tirelessly to save the lives of our fellow New Yorkers,” said LiveOnNY President and CEO Helen Irving. “However, the need for lifesaving organ donors does not stop and our team continues to work hard to save as many lives as possible through organ donation. This Donate Life Month we all come together to show our support for the nearly 10,000 New Yorkers currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.”

Donate Life Month will build on the success of 2019, which saw nearly 1,000 organs transplanted in greater New York City area from 341 selfless organ donors. Additionally, the number of registered organ donors in New York continued to grow. There are currently over 6 million New Yorkers on the Donate Life New York State registry compared to less than 4 million five years ago – that’s a 10% increase from 2018.

New Yorkers near and far can participate in the digital Donate Life Month by sharing messaging from LiveOnNY throughout the month. Each week, the organization will post a new blog about the power of organ donation. Additionally, LiveOnNY’s social media channels will feature Donate Life Month messaging throughout April in the hopes that supporters will like and retweet the messages to their family and friends.

Donate Life Month will once again close with a “Moment of Gratitude” toward all the selfless organ donors and their families. LiveOnNY is asking all New Yorkers to pause at 3 p.m. on April 30, to pay tribute to the thousands of selfless donors who gave the gift of life. Hospitals, transplant centers, organ donation advocates, and others across the area will join in to recognize these lifesaving heroes. LiveOnNY will stream its moment of gratitude gathering via Facebook Live.

ABOUT LIVEONNY:

LiveOnNY is a nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) dedicated to saving lives, providing comfort, and strengthening legacies through organ, eye, and tissue donation. The OPO, which was established in 1978, serves a culturally and ethnically diverse population of 13 million residents in New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Working closely with transplant centers and hospitals, LiveOnNY coordinates organ, eye, and tissue donation for transplant, educates the public and healthcare professionals about donation and transplantation, and promotes the importance of signing up on the New York State Donate Life Registry. LiveOnNY works closely with 11 transplant centers, nearly 100 hospitals, and several tissue and eye banks. LiveOnNY is accredited by the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) and a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which oversees the organ transplant waiting list in the U.S. For more information, please visit LiveOnNY.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

LiveOnNY Inquiries:

Ali McSherry, amcsherry@liveonny.org

Media Inquiries:
Josh Knoller, josh@nicholaslence.com