A selection of Gift of Life Donor Program's memorial quilts will be on display from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday at St. Luke's Miners Campus, 360 W. Ruddle St., Coaldale.

The handmade "Threads of Love" quilts honor more than 100 cornea, tissue and organ donors from our region. The quilts display, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the hospital's community room. Local donors featured on the quilts include Lawrence Brennan of Tamaqua, Krysta Hankee of Germansville, Paul W. "Paulie" Penkala of Hazleton and James L. Iacoviello of Andreas.Visitors should use the main entrance and turn left when they enter the lobby.A representative from Gift of Life Donor Program will be present to share free materials and answer questions about organ and tissue donation.Since 1974, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 44,000 organ transplants and an estimated 750,000 tissue transplants. Currently in Gift of Life's region - the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware - there are more than 5,400 men, women, and children awaiting a life-saving transplant. With an average of 20 people dying each day while waiting for a transplant across the United States, the need for more donors is critical.For more information or to register, go to donors1.org. It takes only 30 seconds to register.Just one organ donor can save up to eight lives, and one tissue donor can benefit as many as 75 others.For more information about the quilts display, contact Gift of Life Regional Community Relations Coordinator Susan Koomar at

skoomar@donors1.org or call 267-421-7958.