Iowa Lions Eye Bank (ILEB) has received a historic investment in its mission to restore and preserve sight.
To celebrate ILEB’s 70th anniversary year, a group of Iowa Lions led by William Shutters, past president of the Iowa Lions Foundation, spearheaded the “Give Sight, Give Love” campaign. The campaign raised nearly $250,000 — including a $105,000 matching vision grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) — to help ILEB upgrade its equipment and continue driving innovation in ophthalmology and visual sciences.
“This is a defining moment for us,” said Esther Baker, executive director of Iowa Lions Eye Bank. “This support positively impacts our ability to help surgeons restore and preserve sight through corneal transplantation, push research into blinding eye diseases forward, and continue raising awareness of the importance of eye, organ, and tissue donation.”
Iowa Lions have supported ILEB for more than seven decades, including providing the initial $10,000 in funding when ILEB was established in 1955.
“Vision-related projects have been the cornerstone of what we do as Lions, ever since Helen Keller challenged us in 1925 to be ‘knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness,’ and we are always eager to support ILEB,” said Lion Bernadette Lane, LCIF Multiple District Coordinator for MD9. “We are proud that ILEB continues to be a leading world class facility when it comes to eye banking and thrilled that LCIF supported our efforts to equip ILEB by providing, in total, $120,000.”
“We can’t thank the Iowa Lions enough for their profound generosity and continued dedication to helping the visually impaired,” Baker said. “We are deeply grateful for all of their efforts, as well as LCIF’s significant investment in the future of ILEB’s eye banking mission and research initiatives.”
To celebrate ILEB's 70th anniversary year and thank the Iowa Lion and Lions Club International Foundation, Lions and other friends of the eye bank were welcomed to an open house in Coralville on June 11. Guests had the opportunity to tour the facility, learn more about the eye donation process, and see firsthand how the Lions' generosity is already making an impact through newly purchased equipment.