Valentine’s Day Push Aims To Boost Organ Donor Registrations With Have A heart Campaign
USA: National Donor Day, observed on Valentine’s Day, is being used this year to spotlight the dire demand for organs and tissues and to drive new registrations through New England Donor Services’ Have a heart, Give a heart campaign. With more than 100,000 people nationwide awaiting life-saving transplants, organizers are emphasizing how a single registration can change the course of someone’s life and reduce the long transplant waiting list.
Last year nearly 1,700 people in New England received life-saving organ and tissue donations coordinated by the nonprofit that facilitates donation across the region. Organ and tissue transplantation — particularly heart transplants — remain central to these efforts, and local rates of donor registration vary: in Maine roughly 60 percent of drivers are recorded as organ donors on their licenses. The campaign pairs data with public outreach timed to the Valentine’s Day observance to increase visibility and registrations.
A recipient featured in the outreach credits a registered donor for saving his life after a heart transplant and now serves as an ambassador for Donate Life, urging others to sign up. He describes the donor as his hero and says the gift of a transplanted heart fundamentally altered his future; his account is being used to personalize the stakes of donation and to encourage more people to opt in.
Becoming an organ donor is straightforward: people can register when renewing a driver’s license, through a state BMV website, or at registerM.org for Maine residents. New England Donor Services and partner organizations hope the Have a heart, Give a heart campaign will convert awareness into registrations, shorten waiting times, and increase the number of successful transplantations across the Northeast.
Video originally published on 2026-02-12 16:33:36
