Give the Gift of Sight on May 7, 2024!

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Help us fill the gap in unmet eyecare needs this May with a gift to LVS!

Are you ready to join the movement to end blindness in poverty in South Carolina?

There is a growing realization within the medical and broader community that eyecare is vital to our success as individuals and is woefully under-funded with competing priorities and limited resources.

At LVS, we have long known and faithfully advocated this reality. Since 1925 Lions Clubs have answered Helen Keller’s charge to be “Knights of the Blind in the Crusade Against Darkness” and since 1969 LVS has been living out that charge by ending blindness in poverty in South Carolina.

On our annual May Giving Day LVS has an ambitious goal of raising $50,000 for eyecare services for South Carolinians experiencing poverty. This is more than we’ve ever raised in a single day before, but it’s a goal we have to meet.

Despite another incredible year of fundraising, the need for eyecare grows. If client applications continue at their current level, there will be a roughly $50,000 gap in unmet eye surgery services by June 30, 2024.

Your gift can change that.

Your gift will:

*Save sight

*Restore dignity

*Provide hope

*Save jobs

*Connect families

*Strengthen communities

By June 30th, up to 54 more South Carolinians living in poverty will need these sight-saving services.

Will you stand in the gap with your online donation on May 7th? Will you constitute yourself a Knight for the Blind?

Double Your Donation with a Matching Gift

Matching Gifts double the impact of your gift. When you give, you unlock these matching gifts with every dollar donated!

Two generous anonymous Lions have provided a $6,000 matching gift for Midlands Gives, the Pawleys Island Lions Club has provided a $5,000 matching gift for Palmetto Giving Day, the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation is offering a $4,000 matching gift for the first $4,000 raised in online gifts for Palmetto Giving Day, the Tamsberg Family Foundation is offering a $3,000 matching gift for Palmetto Giving Day, and Jay and Susan McClary are offering a $7,500 matching gift split evenly between Midlands Gives and Palmetto Giving Day.

You must give online on your District giving platform (only Midlands Gives or Palmetto Giving Day) to help us meet these matches!

Help LVS Secure a Midlands Gives Prize

During Midlands Gives, contributions of just $10 or more are amplified through sponsored prize incentives thanks to the Community Foundation’s In Good Company Network made up of charitably-minded, local businesses.

Help LVS secure prizes by planning your Midlands Gives gift now:

Aflac Power Hour ($2,000) – Most unique donors between 10:00 AM and 10:59 AM.

Schmoyer and Company Get Up and Give Prize ($2,000) – Highest number of unique donors from 6am – 10am on May 7.

Synovus Bank Midday Connection Prize ($1,000) – The nonprofit that receives the first gift of the eleventh hour of Midlands Gives (4:00 PM, May 7).

Coastal Carolina National Bank Challenge Gift

CCNB is supporting the LVS Giving Day by providing a $1,500 Challenge Gift. The challenge is simple: the Lions Club District that raises the most money during the Giving Day Campaign will unlock the gift! The winning District will receive $1,500 in LVS services provided in their District, above and beyond what had been planned for the year.

CCNB is making this expansion of services possible by encouraging giving to LVS during the Giving Day campaign. Give online on May 7th to help your District win the challenge!

Why This Work Matters

While we know the prevalence of blindness and vision loss is supposed to double by 2030, we are now seeing firsthand with our own data how quickly the need for eyecare is rising in South Carolina.

After two record-breaking years of surgeries (more surgeries than we’ve ever done before in a single year), the message is clear: our only limitation is the availabilty of funding to provide these services!

Another 54 families will need life-transforming eyecare by June 30th. Your gift on May 7th will help us secure matching funds, meet the growing need, and further expand our capacity for care.

Client Testimonial
Affordable Eye Surgery Program
York County, SC

One of the 160+ surgeries LVS has provided this year was for Loretta. Loretta is a busy wife and grandmother. She cares for her disabled husband daily and often provides transportation for her grandchildren. After depleting her savings to pay for her first cataract surgery, she was getting desperate to have surgery on her other eye. Driving at night had become impossible and she needed help. Loretta began searching online for resources and immediately found the LVS website.

After getting her second cataract surgery her sight was restored and her life regained stability! She is grateful to be able to continue to care for those who need her most.

Physician Testimonial
David T. Vroman, MD
Carolina Cataract & Laser Center

Support from the Lions Vision Services has been critical in achieving our mutual goal of improving the vision and lives of patients with diseases of the cornea.

Support from the Lions Vision Services has helped patients receive vision restoring surgeries including corneal transplants. Additionally, their support helps to fund many young patients who need a procedure to prevent a progressive disease known as keratoconus, allowing these patients to maintain good vision without the need for surgery. Without Lions Vision Services, many patients would have limited vision or could lose vision. Our practice and the many people they help are eternally grateful.

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Dr. Vroman is a fellowship-trained cornea, cataract, and refractive surgeon and a founding partner of Carolina Cataract & Laser Center since 2008. He was one of the most engaged physicians in the LVS Affordable Eye Surgery Program last year.

What Will Your Gift Accomplish?

We hope you will join our Giving Day with an online gift on May 7, 2024!