ATLANTA, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Automatic Life, Inc., a nonprofit public charity 501 ( c ) 3 organization aimed at focusing on increasing minority organ donations targeting African American and Hispanic communities, announced TODAY to make a plea to minorities to become organ donors this New Year. This plea is part of a continued aggressive campaign push, which supports the nonprofit mission to increase minority organ donor awareness.

"Death and dying is a fact of life and minorities must learn to prepare for the inevitable," said Kyle Ransom, Automatic Life, Inc. Chairman. "Organ donation is an opportunity to give automatic life."

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, more than 13,500 Hispanics are on waiting lists for organ transplants -- accounting for 15 percent of all organ transplant wait listed patients. The waiting period for most transplants is 17-53% percent longer for Hispanics than for non- Hispanic Whites. Nearly 24,000 African Americans are on waiting lists for organ transplants-accounting for 27 percent of all organ transplant wait listed patients. African Americans comprised 35 percent of the waiting lists for kidney transplants. African Americans are almost four times as likely to have end-stage renal disease than Whites, but they are less likely to be evaluated and placed on waiting lists for kidney transplants in a timely manner. Once on the list, they also tend to wait longer for a transplant.