About Us
Stopping Blindness in Its Tracks
Our mission - The Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation is dedicated to the preservation and restoration of sight through eye banking, community vision programs and the support of research.
For the past 51 years, the Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation, headquartered in Columbia, Mo., has stayed true to our mission. By offering six unique vision programs, the Foundation has rescued thousands from the brink of blindness. Although we began as an eye bank, we have expanded our services to help those in need worldwide:
- Our Heartland Lions Eye Banks has provided tissue for more than 38,000 transplants since 1960. We have also opened six additional branches throughout Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.
- Our Children's Vision Screening Program has screened more than 210,000 Missouri preschoolers for lazy eye and other vision problems.
- Our Healthy Vision Screening Program has screened more than 38,000 adults for glaucoma since 1981. In 2011, we expanded this service by screening for age-related macular degeneration.
- 310 Missourians have received assistance for eye care through our Eye Care Assistance Program
In addition, the Missouri Lions and the Foundation have supplied hundreds of thousands of donated eyeglasses to mission groups to take overseas and provided donated eye tissue to ocular researchers nationwide.
Because of the support of our financial contributors, donor families and volunteers, we can continue to help end blindness in your community. To learn how you can be part of another 50 years of saving sight, please visit our You Can Help section.
