Interested in really giving of yourself? Alpha Epsilon Delta, UT’s

pre-medical honor society, will tell you how to donate much-needed

organs.

The group will sponsor an organ donor information booth with Tennessee

Donor Services from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Thursday at the University

Center Plaza.

The booth is one of several in Knoxville set up to provide organ donor

information during National Organ and Tissue Awareness Week.

Michael Wittkamp of Alpha Epsilon Delta said the primary goal of the UT

booth is to raise general awareness about organ donation and push for

greater student participation.

“In the U.S., there are about 40,000 people on a waiting list (for

organs),” he said. “Each month about 2,000 more are added. If they get the

transplants, they could live full, healthy lives.”

Adina Chumley, public education coordinator at Tennessee Donor Services

said the most important thing donors can do is inform their families about

the decision.

“Discuss it with your family,” she said. “So many people just don’t want to

talk about it. This is taking responsibility for what’s going to happen

when you’re not here.”

The booth is also set up to combat some of the misunderstandings about

organ donation, Chumley said.

“Some people say, ‘I’m afraid they’ll let me die if I sign the back of my

license,'” she said. “That’s one of the misconceptions we have to work

through.”

Many people are unnecessarily concerned organ donations will deform their

loved one’s appearance, preventing an open casket funeral, Wittkamp

said.

The organ donor information booth on campus is also important because young

people are the most frequent organ donors, Chumley said.

The awareness week was kicked off with Gov. Don Sundquist signing

legislation Tuesday in Nashville to promote organ donation awareness.