Nine years ago, Justin Lockett of Davenport saved over 70 people through organ and tissue donation after his death. Now the Iowa Department of Transportation is honoring that gift of life with a special memorial.

The Davenport Driver’s License Service Center unveiled a plaque honoring Lockett and his donation at a special ceremony this morning. The facility is the 16^th and most recent DMV center to honor a deceased or living donor or recipient from its local community. Each center has a plaque honoring the person, in hopes of encouraging others to become organ, eye or tissue donors while obtaining their licenses. The IDOT works with the Iowa Donor Network to identify plaque honorees and collect their stories for the project.

“Selecting who to honor is probably one of the most difficult parts because we have so many tremendous stories here in Iowa of donors, recipients and donor families who have been impacted in some way, by donation,” said Heather Butterfield, Director of Strategic Communications for Iowa Donor Network. “The DOT lets us know which driver’s license service centers are eligible to receive a plaque within that year. Then there’s a team of us that sits down and we look at volunteers as far as donor families, recipients, living donors, do we have one who might be in that area? What stories do we know of that are in that community, which ones do we think could have a big impact. So we look at families like Justin, who have been tremendous advocates in the community, have spoken out about the importance of organ tissue donation. Justin and his story are well known in the community, and so that’s often what we look for when we’re, deciding who to honor in a specific community.”

“There’s an incredible need for it right now,” says Butterfield about organ and tissue donation. “There’s more than 100,000 people in the United States who are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, and unfortunately, the reality is nearly 20 people die every single day because there are not enough organs available. That’s why it’s so important that as many people say yes to donation as possible.” There’s a big misconception out there that people think that once they reach a certain age, they go, ‘I’m too old, or I’ve had too many health issues, I couldn’t possibly be a donor’, when the reality is anyone of any age can be a donor. The oldest organ donor in U.S. history was 92, and we regularly have tissue donors who are over 100 years old.”

Over 1.6 million Iowans are currently registered to be organ, eye or tissue donors and 97% registered while getting their driver’s license. Currently there are over 103,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S., including 673 in Iowa. Iowa residents can register at their local DMV or click here.