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Local Community Members Spread The Word About The Need For Organ Donations

By Marcy Norton 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's always a great need for organ donations, but the need is particularly acute in the minority community. On Sunday members of the community lifted their hands in prayer and voices in song at the Mount Airy Church of God in Christ, at a program kicking off National Minority Donor Awareness Week.

John Green of the 'Gift of Life Donor Program' says the annual gospel program is aimed at increasing awareness about the need for donations in the minority community. He says African Americans make-up a sizable number of those who need a donated organ.

"Currently, we have over 6,000 people in our region, the majority of them waiting for a kidney, and over half of them are African Americans," Green says.

And he says there are many misconceptions in some minority communities about how the donation process works.

"Well, many times people are concerned that if they have it on their driver's license, doctors won't save their life," Green says. "And that's not true."

He says those with concerns are reassured about the safety of donating, when they hear about it in their place of worship.

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