Give Life 5K 2024: Dragonfly Supports Iowa Donor Network
The Iowa Donor Network planned to host its Give Life 5K at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines on Saturday, May 4th, 2024, but unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Ed, Nicole, and Star had already made the trek to the western part of Iowa, so they made a stop at the Altoona Iowa Donor Network office to visit our IDN friends!
Monica West, IDN Director of Donor Family Care & Philanthropy, gave us a tour of the IDN Altoona office and introduced us to many faces of IDN. We appreciate the time that IDN staff offered to our Dragonfly team today. They were happy to hear about Dragonfly and eager to share connections to continue to support our mission to enhance the need for organ and tissue donation awareness and to help support transplant patients, families, and caregivers during the transplant process.
Learning more about IDN operations was valuable as we continue to encourage those we meet to give life and be a positive part of the transplant process. Thank you to our IDN friends for hosting us! We look forward to supporting you as "Team Dragonfly" in your next 5K event!
Donor Memorial Garden at Iowa Donor Network
During our visit to the Iowa Donor Network office in Altoona, Monica invited us to brave the rain and visit the Donor Memorial Garden. This garden was opened alongside the office in 2015. It provides a beautiful, calm space for donor families, recipients, IDN staff, and community members year-round.
This place of serenity is special for visitors and is well-known amongst the Iowa Donor Network community. Amongst the beauty of the space itself, it also overlooks a pond surrounded by green space for visitors to find a sense of peace.
"While we visited on a rainy day, the garden felt welcoming," shares Dragonfly volunteer, Nicole Schroeder. "This type of space is so relaxing, and when the organ and tissue donation process feels so exhausting, I can imagine the positive effect a visit to this spot would have on any visitor."
In the Donor Memorial Garden, you will find special inscriptions on many of the bricks, benches, and sculptures. These inscriptions are available to the public to be ordered twice per year (April and September). Memories are made here, and they last a lifetime. Learn more about the IDN Donor Memorial Garden on their website.
