Lions Clubs of District 20-YI to Present University Vision Care and Research Centers with Check to Further Research and Clinical Care of Blinding Conditions

To further its mission to eliminate preventable blindness, the Lions Clubs of District 20-YI have pledged $250,000 over a three-year period to the Vision 2000 campaign for the Health Science Center's University Vision Care & Research Centers.

Today, members of the Lions Clubs of District 20-YI will present the first check of its $250,000 pledge, totalling $115,000. A portion of the proceeds were received from a grant from Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF). The check will be presented by Edward Cordes, M.D., immediate past international director and Franklin Couch, Lions Vision 2000 co-chair. Dr. John Hoepner, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse and director of the University Vision Care & Research Centers will accept the check on behalf of the Health Science Center.

The Lions Club contribution will be used to further the center's initiatives in ophthalmic research and clinical care and to purchase special equipment.

In addition, the Lions Service Organization of District 20-YI will have an area at the center for the people to discover the research that is developing at the center. The Lions Club members of District 20-YI comprise the CNY area from Skaneateles to Cooperstown and Mexico to Downsville.

District Governor for 98/99 Jeremy Purple and his predecessor Past District Governor John Rusinko appointed a committee to develop the project as a district project. Lion Dick Frio and PDG Franklin Couch were responsible for the fund raising and applying for the grant in accord with the LCIF guidelines.

LCIF was founded in 1968 as a charitable arm of Lions international. The foundation disburses millions of dollars in donated funds each year for Sight First, a global program to eliminate preventable and reversible blindness and for other humanitarian projects.

Ophthalmic research at the Health Science Center at Syracuse is conducted through its University Vision Care & Research Centers. The centers are multifaceted and draw upon the expertise and dedication of dozens of leading physicians and research scientists to provide medicine with advances in research, innovation in patient care and quality instruction in the practice of ophthalmology.

Vision 2000, with a goal of $1.2 million, is a program of the Health Science Center Foundation at Syracuse and is designed to increase the awareness, recognition and funding for the advancement of ophthalmology research and services at the Health Science Center.