IIAM's first completed donor quilt! This quilt will be on display at our donor ceremonies as a symbol of the remarkable gifts of life and hope that our donors provide. Each year IIAM holds two, non-denominational ceremonies to honor recent donors and to acknowledge their families and loved ones for the remarkable gifts of life and hope. The services are held in Arizona and Pennsylvania, offering opportunities of remembrance for donor families from across the country who have changed lives through research donation. In addition to inviting families of donors, IIAM invites local community liaisons and outreach specialists, as well as hospice and OPO representatives all of whom are integral to the process of research donation. With a candle-lighting memorial and musical reflection, this touching ceremony offers an opportunity for reverence, comfort and closure.

The IIAM Virtual Memorial
The IIAM Virtual Donor Memorial is a Flash memorial created to honor those who have donated organs and tissues for research and medical education through IIAM. It is with awe, solemnity and gratitude that we view the pictures, read the stories, and pay tribute to these donors. Join us in the memory of them and their gifts of human organs and tissues for research. Please allow your browser to open this pop-up window.

Launch The Virtual Donor Memorial | Submit To The Virtual Donor Memorial



Donor Memorial



The Donor Memorial was established in 2003 at IIAM headquarters to recognize research donors for their selfless gifts that help save and improve lives. The Donor Memorial contains beloved objects, photos, letters and poems submitted by donor families. Displayed together, these items form a permanent and very personal memorial to their loved ones.



IIAM’s Donor Quilt, “Stitches of Remembrance”
Would you like to submit a quilt-square in memory of your loved one for inclusion on IIAM’s donor quilt, “Stitches of Remembrance”? Upon completion, the quilt will be featured at all IIAM Donor Services events. Please see quilt instructions below and contact IIAM for any further information.

Download Stitches of remembrance Submission Instructions

Greenwood Cemetery
IIAM maintains a burial plot at the Greenwood Cemetery in Allentown, Pa., where the cremated remains of donors are buried. A simple stone marks that spot and an annual ceremony there during National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month honors all donors. Most families request the return of cremains when a loved one donates his or her body for medical research and education. For those who don't, IIAM provides interment at Greenwood Cemetery at a site dedicated as a permanent memorial to all donors.

"In honor and memory of all donors who have helped mankind through
transplantation and medical research."
Inscription on memorial stone at IIAM burial plot, Greenwood Cemetery, Allentown, Pa.



The Next Place

"I will cherish all the friendships I was fortunate to find. All love and all the laughter in the place I leave behind. All these good things will go with me. They will make my spirit glow. And that light will shine forever in the next place that I go." Excerpt from "The Next Place" Written and illustrated by Warren Hanson Given to IIAM donor families to honor the memories of their loved ones.

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