Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation and Health, and Pennsylvania organ donation organizations, Center for Organ Recovery and Education and Gift of Life Donor Program, are encouraging all driver’s license and identification card holders to help save lives by registering to become an organ donor.

Over 49 percent of current driver’s license and identification card holders are registered as organ donors, nearly 5 million Pennsylvanians.

Currently, nearly 7,000 Pennsylvanians await organ transplants.

There is no charge for adding the designation to your driver’s license or identification card.

To add the organ donor designation to an existing driver’s license or identification card, visit the Organ and Tissue Donation page on the Driver and Vehicle Services website.

Once the designation is added, individuals will receive a designation card that they must carry with them to affirm organ donor status until they renew or replace their driver’s license or identification card.

Driver’s license and identification card holders, as well as registered vehicle owners, can also support organ donation programs by donating $3 to the Gov. Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund at the time of application and/or renewal.

Proceeds from the fund are used to educate and promote awareness of the organ donor program through nonprofit organizations like CORE and the Gift of Life donor program.

As part of ongoing efforts to increase awareness of organ and tissue donation, ads encouraging organ donation regularly appear on the Motor Vehicle Network at driver’s license centers.

For more information on organ and tissue donation in Pennsylvania or to sign up to become an organ donor, visit donatelifepa.org, core.org or donors1.org.