It’s pleasantly appropriate that the day we set aside each year for giving our hearts to our sweethearts is also the day that America sets aside to honor and encourage organ donation.

The heart is just one part of the body that can be donated for transplantation upon one’s death. According to the Web site www.save7lives.org, an organ donor can save the lives of up to seven other people at the time of his death by donating a heart, a liver, two kidneys, two lungs and a pancreas. One tissue donor can enhance the lives of more than 50 people, and one eye donor can help restore or improve the sight of up to 10 people.

According to the U.S. government, 3,000 people die every year awaiting a kidney transplant. As many as 55,000 people are on the kidney transplant list at one time. Thousands more die awaiting a liver transplant or a new heart or lung.

Many of those deaths could be avoided if more Americans agreed to become organ donors. Though tissue and eye donors don’t necessarily save lives, their contributions can dramatically change the quality of life of people suffering a variety of maladies. Corneas, the middle ear, skin, heart valves, bone, veins, cartilage, tendons and ligaments can be stored in tissue banks and used to restore sight, cover burns, repair hearts, replace veins and mend damaged connective tissue and cartilage in recipients.

There’s no pain involved in organ donation, it won’t affect your funeral arrangements and it won’t cost you or your family a penny. And — to state the obvious — you won’t miss the parts that the doctors take.

This Valentine’s Day, resolve to really give your heart to someone. Register as an organ donor by visiting www.save7lives.org or the DMV. Give someone the gift of life.