SF State has partnered with the California Transplant Donor Network to register as many organ and tissue donors as possible with the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry by Nov. 30.

As of Wednesday, Oct. 29, there were 103,980 recipient candidates lacking a matching organ or tissue donor nationwide. Eighteen of them are dying every single day, according to John Minnett, president of the Nursing Student Association at SF State.

So far, SF State has helped the Donate Life California Tissue Registry register over 100 donors since the campaign began in April. SF State is currently running in second place among universities participating in the challenge to register donors. UCSF is currently in the lead.

The association is now in the second phase of their campaign, which focuses on online campaigning, reaching out to people thorough two venues: Facebook and the Web site of the nursing students, http://www.nsasfsu.org.

"Our plan during this phase two of the campaign is to generate enough SF State student interest and support to start up a Donate Life Ambassador student club at SF State," Minnett said.

The club would be run by students at SF State, regardless of their major, who are dedicated to increasing the number of registered organ and tissue donors at the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Registry.

Phase one of the campaign took a more personal approach in getting people to become donors.

"During the month of April, we cosponsored two events on campus with CTDN: an educational work shop in Burk Hall, and a Donate Life Day on April 15, which was a hybrid event that comprised a press release, blood drive with Blood Centers of the Pacific, and Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Registry sign up table," Minnett said.

According to Minnett, 32 donors signed up on the Donate Life Day, an additional 30 signed up through the Web site by May and another 40 by September.

"Our goal is to raise awareness and increase the number of registered donors," Minnett said.

Rachel Breithaupt, 20, is a junior at SF State and is pleased that the school has teamed up to focus on a cause that can help save lives.

"I feel it's good for college campuses in general to do something like this, because we are a generation that likes to get involved in things," Breithaupt said.

The 20-year-old environmental studies major is a donor herself and stated that people should give their heart and other body parts that could be useful in saving lives, because once deceased, one will no longer need them.

Although a she has a donor sticker placed on her California identification card, according to Minnett, "A pink dot on your license is no longer sufficient to indicate your intention to donate your organs or tissue upon your demise."

According to Minnett, the Department of Motor Vehicles will allow a person to make the decision to become a donor, but instead of marking donor, a person has to sign a form given by the Donate Life Registry to be confirmed as a registered donor.

People who pledged to be donors before the switch from the pink dot to the registry system in 2004 can register through Donate Life to ensure their wishes are properly fulfilled.

Registering to become a donor is done online. Whenever they want, donors may return to the Web site to change what organs and tissues they would like to donate.

Adenike Hamilton, freshman, is a nursing major at SF State and a donor, as indicated on her California ID. Although the 17-year-old is a donor, she had no idea that the dot located on her identification card may have not have any meaning anymore.

"From my understanding the pink dot gave permission for my organs to be used for needed purposes if something happened to me, but now knowing that it may have no meaning, I would actually go and register through the organization," Hamilton said.

For more information, visit http://www.nsasfsu.org, and to become a registered donor go to http://www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org/SFSU.