The purpose of the Foundation is to meet the sight and hearing needs of the citizens of West Virginia, if other aid is not available. The Sight Foundation provides services which normally cannot be provided by an individual or local club, such as:
1921 - Lions of West Virginia formed
The first West Virginia Lions club was formed in Charleston.
1925 - Lions become Knights of the Blind
At the Lions International Convention in 1925 at Cedar Point, Ohio, Miss Helen Keller, blind and deaf, made a stirring plea that Lions adopt the blind as one of their major undertakings. (Click here for a copy of this speech.) By the end of the convention, Lions had voted to adopt sight Conservation and work with the blind as their mission. Lions in West Virginia took up that challenge with a variety of programs to assist the blind and visually impaired and to help prevent blindness.
1931 - West Virginia Lions raised funds to began program to perform eye surgeries
District Governor Jennings Randolph of District 29, West Virginia, learned of the work that Dr. J. E. Blaydes, Sr. of Bluefield (WV) had performed with some blind children from Virginia. Randolph approached Dr. Blaydes about performing eye operations for the children from the West Virginia School for the Blind at Romney. Dr. Blaydes offered his services free if the West Virginia Lions would pay for the transportation and hospital cost. The West Virginia Lions raised $3,000 in 1931-32 and the program began.
Realizing the step forward and seeing the far reaching good will, DG Jennings Randolph reported this West Virginia Lions achievement to the 1932 Lions International Convention in Los Angeles.
1953 - Miss Helen Keller spoke at the 1953 Lions International Convention in Chicago, thanking Lions International for taking over the work with the blind. Miss Keller called the Lions "The Eyes of the Blind."
1955 - The West Virginia Lions Sight Program was chartered in Charleston
Lion Leonard Jarrett, inspired by his personal experience with corneal transplants, sought to create a formal organization to help increase West Virginians' access to eye care and to work toward developing an eye bank in West Virginia. Following charter of the local organization, Jarrett and Lion Jason Conley traveled to Lions clubs throughout the state soliciting their support for a state-wide organization. The Lions Sight Program, Inc., of West Virginia was chartered and operated mainly in the Kanawha Valley area. Most of the work pertained to Eye Pledge and aid to the medically indigent.
1959 - West Virginia Lions Sight Conservation Foundation chartered
On June 6, 1959, by vote of the delegates of the West Virginia State Lions Convention at Charleston, West Virginia, the West Virginia Lions Sight Conservation Foundation was formed. A constitution was adopted and approved at this Convention; Trustees were elected; the Foundation started to work.
The Sight Program merged with the Sight Conservation Foundation so that a state-wide organization dedicated to meeting the sight and hearing needs of the citizens of West Virginia became a reality. Over the years, the West Virginia Lions Sight Conservation Foundation and local Lions organizations have developed many program to help improve eye care for West Virginians including:
- Funding eye surgery for individuals who are unable to pay for it;
- Providing Opticon Print Reader Systems to aid the blind;
- Providing educational program on sight preservation to interested groups;
- Collecting eyeglasses to be used in overseas projects;
- Funding and supporting the Industrious Blind Enterprises, which provides employment for the blind and helps raise money to support other sight conservation projects;
- Sponsoring vision screening for people throughout West Virginia (much of this work was spearheaded by Lion Ralph Ryan, MD);
- Encouraging the donation of eye tissue for transplantation.
The Sight Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees. Eight of these trustees are elected by the Lion Convention delegates for a term of four years each, two from each of the four Districts of the State. In 1959 the Immediate Past District Governors served as ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees, with full voting privileges during their term of office. The trustees elected were as follows:
DISTRICT L - C.B. Montgomery, Parkersburg; George Myers, Warwood
DISTRICT I - John Ryan, Salem; Arnett Swisher, Keyser
DISTRICT O - Leonard Jarrett, Cross Lanes; Jason Conley, Charleston
DISTRICT N - W.R. Cooke, Bluefield; Richard H. Ruff, Welch
1960 - Eye screening in elementary schools began.
Two (2) full-time registered nurses were employed by the Foundation to conduct eye screening in the elementary schools of West Virginia. The program was available only in those counties where there had been an indication, by the Superintendent of Schools, that help is desired. This program began in October 1960, and at the end of the 1960-61 school year, approximately 14,000 school children were screened.
1961 - First documented support of the ophthalmology program at WVU
A donation of $2,400 was made by the Foundation to West Virginia Medical School to equip one room of the 4-room eye clinic located there. The work that was carried on by the out-patient Eye Clinic was compatible with the Foundation's aims at better sight for the people of West Virginia.
A revision of the Constitution of the West Virginia Lions Sight Conservation Foundation was passed at the Lions State Convention in Clarksburg (June 3, 1961), which included District Governors as members of the Board of Trustees, but not eligible to hold office. This addition was to keep the Lions of West Virginia better informed of what the Sight Foundation was doing.
A proposal was made to ask the Lions Clubs of West Virginia to make a contribution each year to the Sight Foundation. This contribution would take the place of our annual statewide sales and would allow the local clubs to use whatever method they chose to raise their funds for the Sight Foundation.
1963 - The program of eye screening in the elementary schools of West Virginia was closed out due to lack of interest and no nurses being willing to do the traveling.
The Immediate Past District Governors were dropped from the Board of Trustees due to the present District Governors doing such a fine job of informing the Lions Clubs of West Virginia what the West Virginia Lions Sight Foundation was doing.
The Foundation acquired the Industrious Blind Enterprises of Stonewood, West Virginia, a broom factory staffed by handicapped persons. Kenneth Trimble was hired as General Manager.
1964 - The West Virginia Lions Sight Foundation approved a Capital Fund Drive of $70,000.00. This was approved at the State Convention, and the Capital Fund Drive was underway with Ulysses Buffington and Ralph Haynes as Co-Chairmen in 1965.
1967 - The Foundation, with the help of Dr. Ralph Ryan, operated a Glaucoma Clinic at the Lions State Convention.
1969 - The Foundation moved to sell the broom factory to the employees of the IBE for the amount of money that the Foundation had invested in it since its purchase, namely $44,000.00. The note was for ten years and non-interest bearing. Payments were $4,400.00 per year.
1970 - The Board of Trustees passed the authority to approve all bills to the Executive Boards. The District Executive Boards were the operating arms of the Trustees of the Foundation. Each District Executive Board consisted of four members. The Trustees made policy, and the Executive Boards carried out this policy. However, Executive Board authority was limited to approval of assistance for medical and surgical purposes and for apparatus such as hearing aids and special eyeglasses. The Trustees approved purchases of special equipment such as opticons, readers, etc., and took action on procedures that were considered experimental in nature, such as intraocular lens implants, etc. It was the policy of the Trustees not to recommend the payment of patient travel expenses or for ordinary glasses; they believed that these are proper duties of the investigating club in order to become involved in the cases. However, there were exceptions to this rule.
1972 - Medical Eye Bank of West Virginia established.
Much of the groundwork for the Eye Bank was laid by Lion Leonard Jarrett and others who saw the need for an Eye Bank in WV. Lions who provided leadership included Jarrett, Jason Conley, Harry Brawley, and John Buffington. Charleston area ophthalmologists who were involved included Drs. Arthur C. Chandler, Milton Lilly, Edwin Shepherd, and George Hamrick (Hamrick was also a Lion). For 11 years the Eye Bank was operated entirely by volunteers, with Donald Marble, a retired C&P Telephone Company executive, serving as executive director. In 1983 Ken Sheriff was hired as the first full-time executive director. Since then, the Medical Eye Bank of West Virginia has evolved into a model eye bank that is internationally respected. Currently three Lions serve on the Board of Directors of the Medical Eye Bank of West Virginia: Jason Conley, William Hensley, Jr., and Sharon King. Marian Macsai, MD of University Eye Center is Medical Director of the Eye Bank and also chairs the Accreditation Committee of the Eye Bank Association of America with Robert Ryan (CPA) a Charleston Lion.
1991 - The West Virginia Lions Clinical Eye Research Unit
A new era of collaboration between the West Virginia Lions and University Eye Center began in 1990 when the Sight Conservation Foundation made the commitment to fund construction of the West Virginia Lions Clinical Eye Research Unit at University Eye Center. Support for the project came from every Lion in West Virginia, with individuals donating $6 per person, and from Lions Clubs International Foundation, which provided matching funds, bringing the total donation to nearly $70,000. Lions James Shelton, Robert Browning Jr., and Joseph Robertson worked with Dr. George Weinstein and Charles Moore to provide leadership on this project. Construction began in June 1991, and the facility was dedicated on November 3, 1991. Since its construction, the Eye Research Unit has provided space and state-of-the-art equipment for research and treatment of eye diseases including glaucoma, diabetes, corneal disease, and vision problems in children and the elderly.
The Mobile Eye Screening Unit
While work on the Eye Research Unit was progressing, the Mobile Eye Screening Unit was being developed with support from the Claude Worthington Benedeum Foundation, the West Virginia Eye Institute, and the Lions Sight Conservation Foundation. Also dedicated in 1991, the Mobile Eye Screening Unit has provided screenings for glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy in nearly every county of West Virginia. Lions Wayne Vandergrift and Paul Van Horn have maintained the unit; Lions from local clubs have staffed it; and optometrists and ophthalmologists from many communities have volunteered their time to screen patients. The Mobile Eye Screening Unit has provided a critical link between University Eye Center and local communities who have participated in the statewide Diabetic Eye Care Project co-sponsored by the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control. Beginning in 1995, the Unit will be used for the Lions' latest sight conservation initiative, Project LEHP.
1994 - The West Virginia Lions Visual Function Laboratory
In 1994 Dr. Charles Moore and Lion Robert Browning Jr. proposed that the Lions Sight Conservation Foundation fund purchase of a new visual electrophysiology system to replace an aging system in the Clinical Eye Research Unit. The purchase was approved, and the system was in place by September, 1994. Because this system represents such a significant improvement in University eye Center's ability to provide visual function testing, the lab was named in honor of the West Virginia Lions and dedicated on October 23, 1994. Housed in the Lions Clinical Eye Research Unit, the West Virginia Lions Visual Function Laboratory is one of the finest centers for visual function testing in the Eastern United States. Visual function testing is a valuable tool for diagnosing and managing many common eye disorders. In addition to helping evaluate the current health of the patient's eye and visual system, testing an help predict the patient's future eye health and the eye health of family members.
TEAMWORK - Lions Clubs and the West Virginia Sight Foundation, Inc.
Lions Clubs and the Sight Foundation have been team players all along. We count on the clubs to locate those in need with eye and hearing disorders and refer them to the Sight Foundation. The individual club investigates each case. If the application is approved, it is sent to the District Sight Coordinator for review. After approval, it is submitted to the Sight Foundation for payment. Many corrective sight and hearing procedures have been financed by the Sight Foundation through this process.
Teamwork between the Foundation, Lions, and the West Virginia medical community have produced beneficial results for the ongoing operation of the Foundation. Such results include hospital discounts, free surgeries, and joint ventures with partners such as the Teubert Foundation, WVU School of Medicine, Ruby Memorial Hospital, and the WV Academy of Ophthalmology.
