For the fourth consecutive year, Kellogg Community College will join Michigan Libraries for Life and Gift of Life Michigan in a statewide initiative to increase membership in the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.
KCC library staff will host a Michigan Libraries for Life information and donor registry sign-up table in KCC’s Morris Learning Resource Center (LRC) – which houses the KCC library – from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 10 and 11, to assist students, staff and community members with signing up as organ, eye and tissue donors. The LRC is located on KCC’s campus at 450 North Ave., Battle Creek.
KCC’s LRC was one of 154 organizations throughout the state that helped 597 individuals sign up to become organ and tissue donors through the Michigan Organ Donor Registry during the statewide Michigan Libraries for Life campaign held in October 2016. KCC helped to register 26 individuals in signing up as organ donors during the 2016 initiative and assisted 97 people who were already registered as donors and 84 people who simply asked questions or were given information.
KCC has participated Michigan Libraries for Life since 2014, and no other site registered more donors during the 2014 and 2015 campaigns than KCC’s LRC; over the course of the October 2014 campaign, the LRC’s efforts accounted for more than 20 percent of the total donors added to the registry.
Individuals interested in signing up as organ donors during the campaign simply need to bring their driver’s license or state ID card; registration will happen online via College-provided laptops, and only takes about 30 seconds.
Michigan residents who join the state’s donor registry will receive a red heart donor symbol for the front of their driver’s license or state ID card by mail. KCC participants will also be able to learn more about the College’s library offerings, including free library cards for nonstudent community members who live within the College’s service area.
Individuals interested in joining the Michigan Organ Donor Registry who cannot make the KCC event may also join the registry online at www.giftoflifemichigan.org/become-donor. Under “Where did you hear about organ donation?” select “Community / Event / Government,” then select “Michigan Libraries for Life.”
According to Gift of Life Michigan, Michigan’s federally designated organ recovery organization, approximately 3,600 residents of the state are waiting for organ transplants. Since its inception in 2010, the annual Michigan Libraries for Life initiative has inspired nearly 3,500 people to sign up as donors.
For more information about Michigan Libraries for Life – including statistics from past Libraries for Life events – visit www.librariesforlife.org. For more information about Gift of Life Michigan, visit http://giftoflifemichigan.org.
Visit the KCC library online at www.kellogg.edu/library.
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