Lions Eye Bank of New Jersey celebrates Eye Donor Month with Open House

By irene Maslowski
In celebration of National Eye Donor Month, the Lions Eye Bank of New Jersey will be hosting an Open House from 3 to 8 p.m. on March 24 at its facility in Clark. The public is welcome.
“Our Open House is an opportunity for the community to come and see what we do,” explains Cathy Wasner, the Eye Bank’s Community Engagement Coordinator. “We hope to help people understand what happens between cornea donation and transplantation.”
National Eye Donor Month was started by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, and every March since, a member of Congress has read a proclamation into the Congressional Record to note this special occasion.
National Eye Donor Month pays tribute to loved ones whose precious donation has transformed lives through the restoration of sight, and also raises awareness of the need for donated eye tissue. According to the Eye Bank Association of America, about40,000 sight-restoring cornea transplants are performed in the United States every year. Without the generosity of eye donors and their families, these transplants would not be possible.
The Lions Eye Bank of New Jersey is a charitable, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the restoration of sight. It recovers, evaluates and distributes human eye tissue for transplantation. It also supports research into the causes and cures of blinding eye conditions, promotes donation awareness through public and professional education, and provides humanitarian aid to people in need of corneal transplantation throughout the world. For more information, visit the Lions Eye Bank of New Jersey online at www.lionseyebanknj.org or call (800) 653-9379.