Contact: Dixie Madsen, 801.726.1216, 800.833.6667

Public Education Coordinator

Intermountain Donor Services

230 S. 500 E. Suite 290

Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Utah Religious Leaders Encouraged to take part in National Donor Sabbath

Years ago, I was faced with the decision of whether or not to put a red sticker that read, “Donor” on my driver license. I was pretty uneducated about organ donation at the time and based my decision entirely on the fact that, if I am dead, I will no longer need my organs so someone else might as well benefit. I left the Driver License office that day with a lot of questions, the most important being how my religion viewed my decision to be an organ donor.

A lot has changed since that day. My driver license no longer has a red sticker; it now has a small red “Y” under the word “Donor”, many of the answers to my questions can be found online, I now know several people who are alive and well because of organ donation, and I know my faith views organ donation as a selfless act, but leaves the decision up to me. I have access to solid information and am now confident that I have made the right decision.

Unfortunately, finding my answer to the major question I had that first day was not easy. I admit, I didn’t start my search for an answer right away, but one day I decided I really wanted to know how my religion felt about organ donation. I went to a website that is managed by my faith and typed organ donation in the search engine. I came up empty. I then drafted an email with my question. When I did not receive an answer, I reviewed what I knew about organ donation and decided that the benefit to others is so great, I couldn’t imagine my faith would be against organ donation..

Later, I began working for Intermountain Donor Services and learned that most religions, including mine, have an official statement regarding organ donation. A list of religious statements had been compiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). That was the information I needed to finally feel completely confident about my decision to be an organ donor.

November 13 – 15 has been designated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services as National Donor Sabbath. Faith communities are asked to focus on the life-saving and enhancing gifts passed to others through organ, tissue and blood donation. I would like to encourage Faith leaders to participate in services and programs to increase awareness of donation and transplantation. When someone is facing a decision regarding organ donation, whether it be the simple act of marking yes on their driver license, or whether it is the difficult decision made in a time of personal tragedy, knowing how their faith views organ donation can be extremely helpful. I would encourage every religious leader to review their official statement with the members of their congregation or to make their congregation aware of where they might go to obtain this information. Information regarding organ donation can be found at