Donate Life raises flag at MVD Office for National Blue and Green Day

Danelle Weber / ADOT Communications

National Donate Life Month ended recently, and we wanted to share how ADOT's Motor Vehicle Division helped mark this observance as well as how the MVD plays a vital role in encouraging organ donation.

On April 15, National Blue and Green Day promoting organ, eye and tissue donation, Donate Life celebrated a longstanding partnership with ADOT by raising its flag at the MVD administrative office in Phoenix.

About 95 percent of Arizona’s 2.7 million registered donors made that decision by checking the box on their driver license or state ID application. In Arizona last year, 165 organ donors saved 433 lives. Thousands of lives will also be healed by the state’s 2,294 eye and tissue donors.

One donor, Marissa “Roo” Pummill, noticed that box on her application and decided on the spot to become a donor. Because of that decision, six other lives were saved when she passed away. Her mother, Kellye Pummill, was present at the MVD event to tell her daughter’s story.

Nearly 2,500 Arizonans are still waiting to receive a lifesaving organ transplant. Nationally, more than 120,000 people await the gift of life, and this number grows daily.

MVD Director Eric Jorgensen told those attending, "Today we call attention to the great need for lifesaving and life-healing transplants, we honor the many generous individuals and their families who have chosen to share life through donation, and we celebrate the lives that have been saved and healed through these incredible gifts."

More than 50 percent of Arizona’s adult population has said “yes” to one day sharing the gift of life. If you wish to join these Arizonans, you can register as a donor by signing up online at DonateLifeAZ.org. You can also check the box on an application to obtain or renew your diver license or identification card.