On Saturday, January 18, Saving Sight’s CEO Tony Bavuso delivered a report at the Lions MD26 Council of Governors meeting, encouraging the group to provide continued support to KidSight.
The program is positioned for major growth with a goal to screen many more Missouri children in the short term. However, in order to realize and resource that goal the organization must raise additional funds for operational growth.
Bavuso urged attendees at Saturday’s meeting, as well as a smaller group of advocates at a meeting on Friday, to extend the legacy that Lions created in starting our eye bank in 1960 to growing KidSight into the future. If you’d like to make a donation in support of KidSight, please visit www.kid-sight.org.
Over the past several months, Saving Sight’s board and leadership have explored ways to best use organizational assets to sustain the impact of our programs in an increasingly competitive non-profit environment. As a first step in this process, four acres of underutilized property at Saving Sight’s Columbia location were listed for sale. A portion of proceeds from the sale were to be earmarked for building improvements in the outdated Columbia facility necessary to continue operations in the building.
Once the land was listed for sale, the Saving Sight team worked with a local real estate developer to conduct a facility analysis of the Columbia office. The report identified the building’s HVAC system would need to be replaced, the elevator replaced or decommissioned, the parking lot resurfaced and exterior lighting addressed just to improve some of the basic building functions. Through the facility analysis, it became apparent that the investment required to bring the building’s systems up to date and change building layout to improve workflow for local operations would be greater than the value of the building at the conclusion of improvements. Seeing a clear need for a more modern and usable space for operations in Columbia, Saving Sight’s board of directors voted to list both the Columbia building and land it sits on for sale at their December meeting. The board action was explicit that while the current Columbia facility should be listed for sale, Saving Sight will continue all local operations, including the Lions Volunteer Center, in the Columbia area. Those functions and staff members will simply be relocated to a different and more updated facility in Columbia that better meets the organization’s needs upon the sale of the current building.
We look forward to keeping Lions volunteers and other key local supporters up-to-date on the progress of the building sale and future site of our local Columbia operations as new information is available.
Staff at Capital Region Medical Center dedicated a rose in honor of their donors on the 14th Annual Donate Life Rose Parade Float.
Each year, Saving Sight works to coordinate the eye donation process for donors in partner hospitals across Missouri, Kansas and central Illinois. Saving Sight partner relations coordinators meet with the partner hospitals as the year comes to a close to honor the gifts of their donors on a national stage during the annual Tournament of Roses – Rose Parade.
“This year our PRCs met with an administrator at 26 of our partner hospitals and partnered with Midwest Transplant Network to meet with 14 shared hospital partners. The number of hospital administrators who participate in this program is growing each year. It’s a great way for Saving Sight to promote in the local communities the culture of donation within these hospitals,” said Michala Stoker, Director of Partner Relations.
Saving Sight asked each partner hospital to dedicate a rose in honor of the hospital’s eye donors that was carried on the annual Donate Life Rose Parade Float. Each signed a vial with a personal message from the hospital in memory of the hospital’s eye donors. This year, the vial carried a white Akito rose on the Rose Parade Float to honor the donors and help spread the simple, life-giving message that eye, organ and tissue donation heals and saves lives.
Memorial Medical Center dedicated a rose to honor their donors on the 14th Annual Donate Life Rose Parade Float.
“It’s an incredible gift these donors make through eye donation. They forever change the lives of corneal transplant recipients,” said Saving Sight Chief Executive Officer Tony Bavuso. “We’re excited to work with our partner hospitals to honor that gift by dedicating a rose that will be seen around the world as part of this year’s Tournament of Roses Parade and serve as a testament to the healing power of the gift of sight.”
The 128th Annual Tournament of Roses – Rose Parade was broadcast around the world from Pasadena, California on January 2, 2017. The 14th Annual Donate Life Rose Parade Float won the Theme Trophy for their Teammates in Life float that honored the heroes who helped others through the gift of sight and the gift of life.
Across our service region, Saving Sight recovered, processed and placed 3,016 corneas for transplant in 2015. Because of the compassion of donors, families and staff at partner hospitals, Saving Sight changed the lives of an average of eight people every day through the gift of sight.
Over 48,000 corneal transplants took place across the country to restore sight for those in need last year and more than 15,000 Americans gave life through organ donation. Still, today more than 120,000 men, women children await lifesaving organ transplants in the United States. If you haven’t registered as an eye, organ and tissue donor yet, you can make a difference by choosing to give life today at registerme.org.
Sonja Buckley, KidSight vision screening technician, screens children at the 2nd Annual 24th Senatorial District Care Fair on October 8.
On Saturday, October 8 Saving Sight teamed up KidSight, Senator Jill Schupp and local state representatives to host the 2nd Annual 24th Senatorial District Care Fair at the Overland Community Center. The Care Fair introduced underserved members of the community to local health and wellness resources and provided access to basic preventative health services to promote healthy communities in the surrounding area.
“People accessed all these services at no cost and we think it’s a great event to bring the community together around making sure that people are healthy and fit and know where to go when they need healthcare resources,” said Senator Schupp.
Nearly 250 community members came to take part in the Care Fair. This was a
huge increase in attendance from last year’s inaugural event. The increase in participants was attributed to improved event promotion and to an increase in
local health vendors offering health services at the Care Fair.
“This event today had over 30 different vendors, everything from vision screening and glaucoma screening, to flu shots, to blood pressure screenings, but also mental health services and services for kids,” said Senator Schupp.
In addition to health vendors offering hearing screenings, blood pressure checks, vaccinations, nutrition education, fitness instruction and other healthcare informational services, Saving Sight provided KidSight Vision Screenings for children and Healthy Vision Screenings for adults. In all, 26 children and 35 adults stopped by the Saving Sight booth for a screening. Sonja Buckley, KidSight vision screening technician, provided screenings for participants of all ages and was also able to provide attendees with reading glasses from Saving Sight’s Eyeglass Recycling Program. The readers were a huge hit, and those who received a pair were grateful to have the glasses to help them see to read in their daily life.
“I want to say thank you to Saving Sight who really encouraged me to put on this health fair a second and third year,” said Senator Schupp. “Saving Sight provides vision screenings for children ages 6 months to 6 years. What we know is that, when we catch it early, they can help prevent childhood vision loss and that is so important to ensuring that our children have a healthy future, do well in school and do well in life.”
Saving Sight, Donate Life Team Illinois, Life Goes On and Mid-America Transplant at the Cardinals/Cubs baseball game on September 13.
Saving Sight partners with local community events, health fairs and hospitals to increase donor designation through local donor designation drives. While 95 percent of Americans are in favor of being a donor, only 52 percent are registered. Donor designation drives help bridge the gap and allow Saving Sight to educate individuals about eye, organ and tissue donation and provide the community with resources to make the best decision for themselves and their family in regards to donation. In September, Saving Sight held several of these events throughout our service area.
Saving Sight teamed up with the Kansas Lions Sight Foundation to have a booth at the Kansas State Fair September 9-18. Saving Sight’s Hutchinson, Kan. office staff Heather Britain, Amber Simmons and Samantha Christenson took turns during the 10 days of the fair, along with local Lions Club volunteers, to man the booth that was part of the Lions Mobile Screening Unit. “What we as staff enjoyed the most was getting to talk to recipients and their families, donor families and even a transplant surgeon about all the positive things about donation they have encountered,” said Heather Britain, partner relations coordinator.
At the Washington County Memorial Hospital 22nd Annual Washington Health Fair on September 10 Richard Hamilton, partner relations coordinator for Saving Sight, raised awareness about Saving Sight and the community vision programs we offer and educated attendees on the importance of eye, organ and tissue donation.
Amber Simmons of Saving Sight shares about donor designation at the Kansas State Fair.
Saving Sight also joined Donate Life Team Illinois, Mid-America Transplant and Life Goes On at a donor designation drive at the Cardinals and Cubs game on September 13 to educate and increase donor designation with baseball fans. In addition to the organizations being represented, a heart transplant recipient, a donor mother and a kidney recipient also volunteered to speak with those who approached the booth, sparking conversation and questions among attendees.
Hosting donor designation drives at these different events helps educate those in different population groups throughout our service area and allows us to work with groups who have similar missions for promoting the positive impact of organ donation.
Nationally, nearly 120,000 men, women and children are awaiting organ transplants and each organ donor has the potential to save up to 8 lives and enhance the lives of up to 50 people. You can join the millions of Americans who have registered to be donors by signing up at registerme.org. Visit donatelife.net for resources to help spread the Donate Life message or to learn how you can host an event to register donors in your community.
Saving Sight is pleased to welcome four new people to its Board of Directors for the 2016-2017 fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). Thank you to CC Lion Joe Foster, District 26 M2, Beaufort Lions, VCC Lion Larry Boettcher, District 26 M4, Marceline Lions, Lion Pat Martchink, District 26 M2, House Springs Lions, and Lion Mike Oldelehr, District 26 M7, Jefferson City Host Lions for joining the Saving Sight board. Board members are key to the organization’s success. They actively participate in long-range planning and secure financial resources to support sight-saving programs. As highly visible members of their communities, the board members also enhance Saving Sight’s public standing by sharing the mission, accomplishments, and goals with Lions clubs, the general public, and other partner organizations.
“Our board members provide crucial oversight to help us achieve our goals,” said Tony Bavuso, chief executive officer. “We are able to change more lives by saving sight through their engagement and support.”
Saving Sight also expresses its gratitude to four people who retired from the board of directors on June 30, 2016. “We were honored to have PCC Dan Bernskoetter, PCC Al Blumenberg, CC Gary Curtis and VCC John Deters serve on our board,” Bavuso said. “They provided valuable feedback these past few years. On behalf of the staff and the recipients of our programs, I thank them for their service and wish them all the best.”
On Saturday, January 18, Saving Sight’s CEO Tony Bavuso delivered a report at the Lions MD26 Council of Governors meeting, encouraging the group to provide continued support to KidSight.
Over the past several months, Saving Sight’s board and leadership have explored ways to best use organizational assets to sustain the impact of our programs in an increasingly competitive non-profit environment. As a first step in this process, four acres of underutilized property at Saving Sight’s Columbia location were listed for sale. A portion of proceeds from the sale were to be earmarked for building improvements in the outdated Columbia facility necessary to continue operations in the building.
