Recently, the Villager wrote a story about a Chanhassen toddler who received not one, but two liver transplants, thus saving her life one year ago.

The Cooper family of Chanhassen are enthusiastic advocates of organ donation and were happy to share their story with the Villager to help educate the public.

LifeSource, the non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives

through organ and tissue donation in the Upper Midwest, and the Minnesota

Department of Public Safety (DPS), has just unveiled a new campaign to support

public education about donation.

This is its news release:

Minnesotans applying for or renewing their driver's licenses or state ID

cards have long had the opportunity to check a box to designate themselves

organ, tissue and eye donors. Now, the "You and $2" program allows

Minnesotans to use the same form to contribute $2 to education about organ,

tissue and eye donation. Money raised will be used to fund programs that

educate the public on the need for life-saving organ donations, with the

goal of increasing the number of registered donors in the state. Modeled

after similar programs in other states, "You and $2" was made possible by

passage of a bipartisan bill during the 2011 legislative session.

The percentage of persons who are registered donors in Minnesota continues

to rise, yet growth has significantly slowed - a critical concern, as the

need for organ donors is rising and expected to increase. More than 2.4

million Minnesotans are registered organ and tissue donors, equaling about

60 percent of adults in the state. Although Minnesota ranks higher than

the

national average (42 percent of adults registered as donors) states with

programs similar to "You and $2" boast much higher rates of registered

donors, including Washington at 74 percent.

Statewide, more than 2,700 people are waiting for a life-saving organ

transplant. In 2010, 167 people died while on the transplant list because

an

organ was not available - nearly one person every other day. "Our hope is

that providing this opportunity to fund critical education will increase

our

community's support for donation and save more lives," said Susan Gunderson,

Chief Executive Officer at LifeSource. "Our vision is that everyone shares

the gift of life, and that no one should die because of a shortage of organs

available for transplant."

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman supports the joint

efforts of DPS and LifeSource to help Minnesotans register as donors and

verify the decisions of Minnesotans who choose to save lives through organ

and tissue donation. "We are proud to strengthen our partnership with

LifeSource through the 'You and $2' campaign to help Minnesotans save

lives," Dohman said.

Minnesotans can find information about donation and register online to be

a

donor by visiting www.DonateLifeMN.org.

Information about the "You and $2" program is available on the LifeSource

website at www.Life-Source.org.