Donate Life Rose Parade®

Iowa Donor Net­work has select­ed April Wil­son of Den­ver, Iowa, and Natal­ie McCleary of Fruit­land, Iowa, to be hon­ored on the 2026 OneL­e­ga­cy Donate Life Rose Parade® Float in Pasade­na, Cal­i­for­nia on Jan­u­ary 1^st. McCleary, who passed away in 2022, became an organ donor whose gifts trans­formed six lives. She will be hon­ored with a flor­a­graph por­trait placed on the float. Wil­son, a two-time liv­ing donor, will be rec­og­nized as a Walk­er Hon­oree and will walk along­side the float.

Wil­son, McCleary’s fam­i­ly, and their loved ones will trav­el to Pasade­na, Cal­i­for­nia to help dec­o­rate the float and watch the parade live.

This year’s Rose Parade® theme, The Mag­ic in Team­work, cel­e­brates the col­lec­tive effort and col­lab­o­ra­tion required to make extra­or­di­nary things pos­si­ble. Organ and tis­sue dona­tion exem­pli­fies this con­cept — bring­ing togeth­er hos­pi­tals, organ pro­cure­ment orga­ni­za­tions, trans­plant cen­ters, donors, and recip­i­ents. When an organ and/​or tis­sue donor gives the gift of life, it rep­re­sents the ulti­mate act of team­work, per­fect­ly reflect­ing the theme cho­sen by Tour­na­ment of Ros­es Pres­i­dent Mark Leav­ens.

Flor­a­graph por­traits made from organ­ic mate­ri­als will hon­or donors who gave the gift of life, while trans­plant recip­i­ents will ride on the float to share their grat­i­tude. Liv­ing donors, includ­ing Wil­son, will walk along­side the float, demon­strat­ing the life­sav­ing impact of liv­ing dona­tion.

If you are expe­ri­enc­ing a men­tal health cri­sis or hav­ing thoughts of sui­cide, please reach out to the 988 Sui­cide & Cri­sis Life­line for imme­di­ate, con­fi­den­tial support.