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NORTHWEST LIONS FOUNDATION

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Foundation Logo LWVI link

About

Serving NW Lions Clubs
for 55 Years…

The Northwest Lions Foundation provides funding and services to Lions Clubs in Washington and Northern Idaho to help them accomplish sight and hearing missions in their own communities.

The Northwest Lions Foundation is an operating unit of the Lions World Vision Institute (“LWVI”). LWVI is the new name of SightLife and the Lions Eye Institute, following their merger in August, 2022.

SightLife, based in Washington state, was founded in 1969 as the Northwest Lions Eye Bank. It underwent several name changes and has reorganized several times over the years as it expanded its scope and service area and joined with other orgainizations. Before changing its name to SightLife in 2008, it was known as the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing.

The Lions Eye Institute, based in Florida, was formed in 1973, and has grown into a hub for ocular tissue preparation, musculoskeletal tissue recovery, research, and pediatric vision health to transform the lives of people around the world.

LWVI is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, with satellite offices throughout Florida, Louisiana, Washington state, California and Pennsylvania, with additional tissue recovery services in Montana, Idaho and Wisconsin.

Programs And Operations

Northwest Lions Foundation operations currently include:

Funding

The Northwest Lions Foundation's operations, which are known as the “Lions Programs”, are funded by:

  • The Lions Programs,
  • Contributions by Lions and Lions clubs,
  • Charitable contributions from the public,
  • Periodic funding events, such as White Cane Days, and
  • Distributions from the Northwest Lions Endowment, a Washington nonprofit corporation.
Management

The Northwest Lions Foundation is managed by a Board of Trustees. The Trustee's have the authority to expand, contract, or otherwise modify the Lions Programs.

Management and operation of the Foundation is governed by Articles for Operation.

The Northwest Lions Foundation Board of Trustees is comprised of, but not necessarily limited to, individuals representing each of the subdistricts within Multiple District 19 of Lions Clubs International.

Historical Timeline
1969 The Lions clubs in Washington and Idaho establish the “Northwest Lions Eye Bank” in response to the Lions Clubs International global sight mission.
1979 Lions Clubs International adds assistance to those who are deaf or hard–of–hearing to mission.
1979 The Lions clubs in Washington and Northern Idaho create the “Lions Hearing Conservation Foundation” in response to Lions Clubs International's expanded mission.
1998 Northwest Lions clubs merge the Northwest Lions Eye Bank and Lions Hearing Conservation Foundation into one organization, the “Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation of Washington and Northern Idaho”.
1999 The Lions Early Assessment Program (“LEAP”) is established to make newborn hearing screening a routine practice in the Pacific Northwest.
2000 LEAP joins with the Seattle Childrens Hospital's Division of Pediatric Audiology in an effort to implement statewide universal newborn hearing screening in hospitals across Washington State.
2001 The Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation of Washington and Northern Idaho merges with the Montana Eye Bank, and becomes the “Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing”.
2004 The Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing launches AUDIENT, a national nonprofit alliance bringing low–cost, high–quality hearing care to income–qualified individuals.
2006 The Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing” is renamed to “SightLife” to better reflect its national and international services.
2008 SightLife is established as the parent organization of both the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing and AUDIENT, and creates the “Northwest Lions Foundation” as an operating unit of SightLife dedicated to supporting the needs of Lions Clubs in Washington and Northern Idaho in thier quests to provide for hearing and vision programs in their communities.
2010 The Northwest Lions Foundation accepts the challenge to promote Disbetes Awareness into its program.
2022 Florida based Lions Eye Institute acquires SightLife under a merger agreement executed in August, 2022. Founded in 1973, Lions Eye Institute has given the gift of sight to over 160,000 people worldwide since its inception. The two nonprofits have over 100 years of combined experience. Since the inception of both programs, they have brought the “Gift of Sight” to more than 500,000 men, women, and children worldwide.
2023 On May 5, 2023, the Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research and SightLife announced that the two organizations have come together as a single nonprofit corporation under the new name of Lions World Vision Institute (“LWVI”). This transition marks the full integration of SightLife and the Lion Eye Institute for Transplant and Research, which now serve as the largest eye bank, tissue recovery, preventative care, and ocular research center in the world. The Northwest Lions Foundation is an independent operating unit of LWVI.
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“All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.”

—Markham

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MD19 logo

Nestled in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, at the southwest corner of Canada and the northwest corner of the United States, Multiple District 19 began its tenure as District 19 of Lions Clubs International in 1922. MD19 is an international Multiple District of 9 sub–districts serving 10,000 Lions and Leos in 400 clubs in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and the States of Idaho and Washington in the United States.

LCI logo

The International Association of Lions Clubs, headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, is an organization of distinct, independent, service clubs.

Founded in 1917, Lions Clubs International is the largest, and the most active, community service organization in the world. There are now more than 46,000 Lions Clubs and 1,400,000 Lions located in 210 countries and geographic areas worldwide.

Lions support sight programs and services including vision screenings, eye banks and eyeglass recycling, and provide eye care services to those at risk of losing their sight.

LWVI logo

The Lions World Vision Institute is a global nonprofit dedicated to honoring vision as a basic human right. Its work reaches around the globe and includes compassionate donation and transplant services, innovative research and technologies, vision services, and education in local and international communities. With it's worldwide network of supporters, surgeons, and research leaders, LWVI works tirelessly to honor donor's gifts by protecting and restoring sight for hundreds of thousands of people.

LWVI is the largest combined eyebank, tissue recovery, preventative care, and ocular research center in the world. LWVI is a new, shared name of SightLife and the Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research following their merger begining in August, 2022.

SightLife was a nonprofit corporation founded in 1969 in Seattle, Washington U.S.A. as the Northwest Lions Eye Bank. It served as the leading eye bank in the United States since 2009.

Since it's founding in 1973, the Lions Eye Institute grew into a state–of–the–art hub for ocular tissue preparation, musculoskeletal tissue recovery, research, and pediatric vision health to transform the lives of people around the world.