Donate Life North Carolina (DLNC) presented a commemorative medal to Speaker Pro Tem Dale R. Folwell (Rep-Forsyth) to recognize his commitment to saving lives by increasing organ, eye and tissue donation.

The medal was developed to celebrate reaching 100 million registered donors nationwide, a major milestone in donor designation in the United States. In North Carolina, 4,107,159 people have registered to save lives through organ and eye donation. This makes North Carolina’s donor registry the sixth largest in the country.

Bob Russ, Chairperson of Donate Life North Carolina, presented the medal to Speaker Pro Tem Folwell for his legislative advocacy, specifically his sponsorship of the “Heart Prevails” legislation (House Bill 1372 / S.L. 2007-538) which created the North Carolina donor registry and made the heart on a NC driver license or ID card legally binding consent for organ and eye donation. Rep. Folwell also supported the creation of a Donate Life NC specialty license plate this year

“We’re grateful that Speaker Pro Tem Folwell is a key champion for Donate Life,” said Sharon Hirsch, Executive Director of Donate Life North Carolina. “His advocacy has helped us to grow our registry to over 4.1 million registered donors, saving lives every day.”

“Since my wife Synthia and I became donor parents in 1999, I have been an advocate for the life-saving gift of organ donation. I’m proud that North Carolina has developed a strong donor registry through Donate Life North Carolina and our new specialty plate will help inspire more North Carolinians to register,” stated Speaker Pro Tem Folwell.

Currently, there are more than 112,000 people – men, women and children – on the national organ transplant waiting list, including 3,575 in North Carolina. People die each day because there are not enough donated organs. Each person who signs up as a donor could save the lives of up to eight people.

Donate Life North Carolina is a collaborative group of organizations that promotes eye, organ and tissue donation throughout the state. As a non-profit organization, Donate Life North Carolina’s mission is to inspire all North Carolina residents to save and enhance lives by registering as organ, eye and tissue donors. For an application for the new Donate Life license plate, or to register as a donor, visit DonateLifeNC.org.