TN driver centers flash back to 1950s to promote organ donation

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — Update your drivers license and help save a life at the same time. Friday is Donate Life Blue and Green Day. The campaign encourages people to register as an organ and tissue donor.

Workers at the Tennessee driver services center in Jackson dressed in retro attire Friday. They turned the branch into a 50’s donor diner.

“We have 50s music playing,” Branch Manager Marlo Mason said. “Everyone is dressed up like me and we have records and we have a Jukebox.”

Driver services centers across the state teamed up with Donate Life Tennessee for Blue and Green Day. The goal is to save lives by encouraging Tennesseans to register as an organ and tissue donor when they receive their drivers license and/or state ID.

“Even one organ tissue donor can save the life of 50 people,” Mason said.

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security said more than 114,000 people across the U.S. are waiting for organ transplants, more than 2,900 of those in Tennessee.

Sam Powell is an organ donor. “I decided to become an organ donor because I figured if I’m not using my organs beyond life then somebody else can,” he said.

“There’s 39% of Tennesseans that are currently registered and our goal is to get 50% of Tennessee citizens registered,” Mason said.

To sign up, people must check a box on their application. Donors get a little heart on their license or ID. “It’s super easy to do,” Mason said. “All you have to do is say yes.”

For more information on how to become an organ and tissue donor, click here: https://donatelifetn.org/