Olympia Host Lions Club Foundation

Your kindness does make a difference - help local Lions share some hope with seniors who are losing their eyesight!

Imagine, if you will, how your mother would cope if she suddenly lost her vision.  

Or consider how you might feel if you could no longer see to read your mail, enjoy a book or craft, or share a note with a grandchild. 

As our population ages, more and more of us face those challenges with eye diseases like glaucoma or macular degeneration.

And all too often our eye doctors simply have no options to offer.  So failing vision leads to grief, depression and isolation from friends and family.  And that is a breakdown in our community.

But the Lions offer hope.  

When individuals visit the Lions Low Vision Resource Center (LVRC) in Olympia, they find 

• equipment to borrow for free for as long as needed - from talking watches to table top reading machines 
• expensive high tech devices to try before they invest in a purchase (We don't sell any items but will help our clients locate a vendor.)
• group- and one-on-one training on devices like smart phones or how to make your home tv work better for you
• people who have experienced - and worked through - the trauma of vision loss.

And when they call our hotline with questions, we find answers.

See why our clients say  "You just gave me my life back!" 

Men and women come to the LVRC when they are suffering.  Frequently, they have been told by an eye doctor that they are losing their vision and there is no more the medical community can do.  

They see their world closing in on them.  And they are scared, frustrated, angry and sad.  

But a little hope helps -- and we often hear things like "You just gave me my life back."  That is hope in action.

Your help is needed - large donation or small.

Believed to be the only center of its kind in western Washington, the Lions Low Vision Center started as a local project of the Olympia Host Lions Club in 2008 but has grown in the past 3 years to serve clients from Poulsbo to the Oregon border.  The Center is run entirely by volunteers and supported by local Lions, grants from Lions International and donations from generous businesses and individuals.

The rapid increase in demand for services - plus large rent and utility increases - have strained the finances of the Center.  Your donation will help to keep the doors open and the lights on, help us buy much needed magnifying equipment and allow for more training and social events to help people with vision loss maintain their dignity, independence and place in society.

Want to fund a specific need?  

• Donate $5000 - buy a magnifying machine to help someone read their newspaper or pay their bills themselves.
• Donate $250 - keep putting LVRC  brochures in the offices of eye doctors so they can offer hope to their own patients
• Donate $125 - pay Hotline phone bill for one month so folks with failing vision can get their questions answered
• Donate $100 - sponsor a training event to help clients use their phones effectively with failing vision
• Donate $50 - buy a talking watch for us to loan out - always a big hit with people losing their sight
• Donate $10  - buy a large print calendar for us to give to a new client - sometimes it is just the simple little things that make the biggest difference 

Our Promise to You -- 

Every penny of funding received from the public will always be returned to the public through our projects.  100% .

That's the Lions' promise.

We appreciate your support.

Olympia Host Lions have been meeting the needs of our community since 1935.  A part of the world's largest service organization, we focus much of our energy on assistance to those with vision issues, including vision screening for children and our Low Vision Resource Center.  Our other key projects include Camp Leo for Children with Diabetes,  support for the families of children with cancer, and helping our hungry neighbors get the food they need.