The Dragonfly Transplant Fund had an active and exciting year in 2021!

The year kicked off with a Valentine’s celebration brunch for the office staff at the UIHC Transplant
Center. The celebration was to recognize the record breaking number of transplant recipients in 2020
at UIHC at 103 patients! In partnership with the Bread Garden Market, Dragonfly volunteers delivered
box brunches to all the office staff at their work stations. Reports indicate that 2021 may break the
record again.

In April, the Dragonfly put together a team to participate in the lowa Donor Network Green 5K and raised over $500 for Iowa Donor Network. In case you didn’t know, April is Donate Life Month.

In August, we held our 4th Annual Golf Outing at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside, Iowa. 2021 was the best year yet! With over 100 golfers and more than 50 volunteers, we raised over $28,000 donations for the Dragonfly cause. A highlight of the event was to have a number of both organ donors and recipients present at the event. Great job, Dragonfly Golf Committee!

In addition to the golf outing in August, we were able to host Deb's Celebration of Life. In recognizing
her courage and our vision, an endowed memorial fund was established. This fund will use its annual
earnings to provide educational scholarships for the nurses and staff at the UIHC Transplant Center. To
honor Deb's legacy, this fund is named the "Deb & Ed Brown Endowed Dragonfly Fund for Transplant
Support.” We owe a big thank you to the University of lowa Center for Advancement for their help and
guidance in making this happen. Deb and I wanted to say thank you to everyone at UIHC. It’s a fact that
a more knowledgeable staff will help everyone.

To close out the year, the Dragonfly Action Steering Committee committed 10% of the current Dragon-
fly fund to be used to enhance the transplant process for UIHC patients, families and caregivers. We asked the transplant nursing staff for their input and received valuable ideas as to how we can help
make this happen. We can’t wait to show everyone what awesome things are coming in 2022 with this
allocation!

I would be remiss if I didn't make note of the growth that the Dragonfly has experienced in the media
and marketing department throughout the whole year. Our Dragonfly website and Facebook have
proven to be a valuable method of communication and these digital marketing tools have helped us
grow awareness for the need for more people to sign up to be organ donors. To everyone who is a
donor, we have to say THANK YOU!

Our golf committee volunteers were very excited to present the University of Iowa Center for Advancement with a check for $32,665.00 from the proceeds of our 4th Annual Dragonfly Transplant Fund Golf Outing and Fundraiser this summer! Thank you to Alli Ingman from UICA for joining us for this special moment.

Create an engaged community of survivorship and re-birth from end-stage organ failure for pre-, peri and post-transplant patients and for their caregivers through philanthropy with:

• A short-term vision to provide amenities for patients and families during their transplant experience
  • Meals, coffee cards and other resources (as examples) for those in financial need
  • Short term housing at local motels for those in financial need
  • Tools for successful transition to home for monitoring and recording progress and success

• A longer-term vision in alignment with the UIHC master plan to create the Dragonfly Resource Center, a physical location for transplant recipients, caregivers and their families within the walls of UIHC to serve as a respite and a learning center
  • Long term fund growth earmarked for a physical space in the 10-year master plan for UIHC
  • Once complete, the Dragonfly Resource Center will provide a physical space to foster a community of support and survivorship for patients and their caregivers

• Aspirational vision to provide short and medium-term permanent housing for patients and families receiving life-saving abdominal transplant surgery at UIHC

Our team of volunteers cannot thank our sponsors, donors, and golfers enough for making our 4th Annual Golf Outing and Fundraiser a huge success again in 2021! We had beautiful August weather with over 100 golfers at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course. 

As always, we would like to share a special thank you to our volunteers, Mike and the team at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, Iowa Donor Network, the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics Transplant Center, and the Iowa DNR. Thank you for supporting our mission every day and helping us work toward our vision for the Dragonfly Transplant Fund. We are very thankful for the organ donors who were in attendance and shared their stories with us and our golfers. 

We also want to thank Deb Brown for watching over this year's golf outing and keeping the sun shining on us. 

We look forward to seeing you at our 5th Annual Golf Outing at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside, Iowa in 2022!! Stay tuned for the official date and registration information in the coming months.

We look forward to introducing everyone to our Kid Captain, Gavin, this year! Gavin will be handing out ball markers to all of our golfers this year. Thank you to AlphaGraphics North Liberty for designing and producing these special tokens for our event.

We also owe a special thank you to our Reception Sponsor, Ryan Fowler Insurance, and our Prize Cart Sponsor, The Achievement Group. We will host everyone on the patio near the golf shop at Riverside after the golf outing to award prizes and celebrate together. ​

We receive support from individuals, businesses, and organizations from all across the United States. We are very fortunate to have the support of these two ladies from Alpha Graphics in North Liberty. Alpha Graphics has been our first choice for all things graphics, displays, and giveaways since the inception of the Dragonfly Transplant Fund. Cynthia (left) and Michele have been a critical part of our success, and they took time out of their personal lives to craft these beautiful works of art for us to display at the upcoming golf outing.

Thank you to Cynthia and Michele from Alpha Graphics for sharing your talents with us at the Dragonfly Transplant Fund! We appreciate you and your continued support of our mission.

-Ed Brown