For many groups and organizations, the pandemic turned 2020 into an underwhelming year.

But for CORE, the Center for Organ Recovery & Education, 2020 broke records.

In CORE's local donor service region — Western Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia and New York — donors were up about 28%.

“We would attribute that growth in large part to our resilience, agility and commitment to our mission to save and heal lives,” said Colleen Sullivan, director of public affairs and Donor Family Services.

CORE, which manages deceased organ donations from hospitals, recorded 324 organ donors in 2020. Of those, nine lived in Butler County.

Of more than 1,100 tissue donors, 50 were county residents.

According to Sullivan, deceased organ donations have increased across the country since COVID-19 reached the United States.CORE locally was able to tap into that trend and save 792 lives across the nation in 2020, up from 2019's 661.While the 792 recovered organs came from the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia/New York area, they had the potential to be distributed nationwide.“Year after year, we push ourselves to be better than the year before,” Sullivan said. “That expectation did not change because of a global pandemic.”Sullivan said the private nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) recognizes a few factors contributing to last year's donor growth.One of the things UNOS, which manages the nation's organ transplant system, credits the rise to is an increased number of donors who died from cardio-respiratory failure instead of brain death.There were also more organs recovered from donors who may not have been considered suitable in past years.“The most common age range of deceased donors was 50 to 64, nationally,” Sullivan said.CORE to-date hasn't recovered organs from donors who tested positive for COVID-19. However, Sullivan said the organization is following recommendations from the American Society of Transplantation.More than 100,000 people across the United States are awaiting a transplant. Nearly 2,000 of them are in the greater Pittsburgh region.“Even with CORE's record-breaking year, the need for donors remains critical,” Sullivan said.About 50% of Pennsylvanians are registered donors. Sullivan said Butler County, at 57%, should be proud to sit among the counties with the highest registration rate.“One person can save the lives of eight by donating organs and heal the lives of 75 through tissue donation,” Sullivan said. “Anyone can sign up to be a donor, regardless of age or medical history.”As the pandemic has resulted in sporadic DMV operations, Sullivan said an estimated 1 million Pennsylvanians within the past year haven't had the opportunity to register as donors during driver's license or ID renewal.Those interested in registering as donors can do so through CORE at core.org/register.More information is available on the CORE website, core.org.