ALBANY – (April 1, 2017) –Albany High School, Dougherty High School, Monroe High School, and Westover High School are friendly rivals in both the classroom and athletics, and  now they will face off in the “And the Beat Goes on….” Albany Community Organ & Tissue Donor Challenge by implementing organ donor drives on their respective campuses. LifeLink^®, the non-profit organ and tissue recovery organization in Georgia, along with Dougherty County Coroner’s Office, is facilitating this competition which will result in individuals learning the facts about donation and transplantation, and signing up on the Georgia Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.

Currently more than 118,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant nationwide; in Georgia over 5,500 of our family members, friends and colleagues await their Gift of Life.  Every 10 minutes another person is added to the national transplant waiting list and, sadly, approximately 22 people die daily because of the organ shortage.

Organ transplants save lives. Last year alone over 33,600 transplants were performed. These extraordinary gifts were selflessly donated by ordinary people — individuals like Albany community members — who took just a few minutes in a busy day to indicate their decision to become an organ and tissue donor.

For more information and to designate your decision to save lives, visit www.DonateLifeGeorgia.org.  Make sure to support your favorite school or alma mater by clicking on ‘Events’ in the ‘How did you hear about us’ section and in the second drop box, click on your designated school name.