The 2011 TIME 100

I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg has heard many I-found-love-on-Facebook stories through the years, but my love story is unlike any other. I never knew when I created a Facebook account to connect with friends, relatives and constituents that I would find one of my residents who needed a kidney. But there was Carlos Sanchez, like some sort of cyberspace SOS on my NewsFeed, contacting as many people as he could to find a new chance at life.

Would I have been his donor without Facebook? We'll never know. But Facebook allowed me to sit quietly in my office and say to myself, You're up! Answer this call!

It is now a regular occurrence to see folks awaiting a transplant use Facebook to put out a call to action. And the element of connecting via Facebook has generated interest that helps us promote health, wellness and organ and tissue donation. Every year nearly 7,000 people in the U.S. die while awaiting a transplant. I know of at least one person who survived, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, 26, and his little idea called Facebook.

Capone is the mayor of East Haven, Conn.

See portraits of Mark Zuckerberg.