Organ Donor Enrollment Day is Thursday in Chappaqua

CHAPPAQUA, NY — LiveOnNY is holding its second annual Organ Donor Enrollment Day on Thursday, and Chappaqua is going to be part of it, encouraging people to sign up at a table in front of 26 S. Greeley Ave. from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

This event is focused on one goal: to enroll as many willing New Yorkers as possible as organ donors in a single day.

Barbara Lerman, a Chapppaqua resident whose daughter Sydney had a heart transplant 11 years ago at the age of 2, says "you can never really understand how important being an organ donor is until someone in your family is in desperate need of a life saving transplant."

While 92 percent of New Yorkers support organ donation, only 27 percent of New Yorkers are registered. New York ranks 50th out of 50 states in the percentage of residents registered as organ donors, and New York ranks third in the country for the number of people waiting for organ transplants, according to LongLiveNY.org.

Additionally, according to LiveOnNY, more than 120,000 people in the United States are waiting for organ transplants. Of these, nearly 10,000 live in the greater New York metropolitan area. This contributes to a troubling fact: every 18 hours a New Yorker dies waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

“Our community is so incredibly generous with their time and money, We are asking them to be generous with organ donation. If we can get one person to donate, it makes this worthwhile. Come give the gift of life. I would like to thank Barbara Lerman and Hailey Puleo for their help - not just with our drive on October 6th - but every day!" said New Castle Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein.

"We are doing our part - here in New Castle. You have a choice: it can be another ordinary day, or it can be an EXTRAordinary day. It can be EXTRAordinary because you have the opportunity to be a part of an incredible movement to support organ donation and sign up to help save lives. A table will be set up in front of 26 S. Greeley Ave, Chappaqua from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Let's make October 6th an EXTRAordinary day!"

image via LiveOnNY