WHEREAS, there are more than 104,000 Americans, with more than 6,000 in New England, who are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant; and

WHEREAS, there are over one million life-enhancing tissue transplants each year that are made possible by the generous donation of corneas, bone, skin or other tissue, and;

WHEREAS, we can all help save up to 8 people’s lives and benefit up to 50 recipients by signing up to become an organ and tissue donor by enrolling in the Maine Donor Registry when we apply for, or renew, our drivers licenses or by registering on-line at www.RegisterMe.org or the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ website www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/donatelife; and

WHEREAS, 99 percent of all people in Maine who register to become a donor do so at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and last year Maine surpassed the national goal by signing up 57 percent of our driving population to register as donors and we are dedicated to increasing that percentage and making it fast and easy to sign up to save a life through our Bureau of Motor Vehicles; and

WHEREAS, this observance pays tribute to organ and tissue donors and their families whose decision to donate life enables others to receive life-saving organs and tissues for transplant;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2023 as

Organ Donation Month

Throughout the State of Maine, and I encourage all Maine citizens to get the Heart on their License, ID, or REAL ID and register as an organ & Tissue donor.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this seventh day of April Two Thousand Twenty-Three