Lions World Vision Institute

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Lions World Vision Institute

Lion World Vision Institute is a global nonprofit for sight restoration, research, and outreach.

11/21/2025

The LWVI Vision Health Center is where vision meets community.

By addressing gaps in vision access, we’re helping children see the board, adults stay in the workforce, and seniors remain independent. LWVI is investing in a clear path to care for every child, family, and neighbor.

This is what it means to build the future of vision health in the heart of Ybor City.

Join us as we prepare to break ground on a national model for compassionate, community-based care that can be replicated across Florida and beyond.

You can be part of this transformative project and explore naming and investment opportunities by contacting Sharon Boyes, LWVI Foundation Executive Director.

Learn more:
https://ow.ly/OMiL50Xw23B

11/21/2025

We are thrilled to welcome Andrea Gonzmart Williams to the Lions World Vision Institute Board of Directors.

As we celebrate , we honor exceptional leaders like Andrea, whose dedication to service strengthens our work to restore sight, advance research, and expand education.

A fifth-generation leader in the Hernandez Gonzmart family business, 1905 Family of Restaurants, and a proud fourth-generation Tampa native, Andrea carries forward a legacy deeply woven into Florida’s history. She follows in her grandparents Cesar and Adela’s footsteps as an artist and musician, still finding joy in playing the piano and cooking as her grandmother did.

Andrea's commitment to service is equally longstanding.

For more than two decades, she supported her father’s Run for Life Foundation, raising funds for cancer research at Moffitt Cancer Center. She is also actively engaged in the The Gonzmart Family Foundation, helping oversee more than 31 scholarships for the Latino Scholarship Program at the University of South Florida. Andrea and her husband, Beau Williams, have created their own scholarships and proudly support USF Athletics with their daughter, Amelia, the sixth generation of the Hernandez Gonzmart family.

Her community involvement spans numerous organizations, including Visit Tampa Bay, USF Foundation, The Florida Aquarium, Ybor City Chamber of Commerce, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, and more. Her leadership and impact have earned her many awards and acknowledgements.

Andrea shared, “I feel honored to be joining the LWVI Board of Directors. I look forward to being an ambassador and helping to contribute to their mission of sight restoration, research and education.”

LWVI President & CEO Jason K. Woody added: “We are honored to welcome Andrea, whose family has proudly served the community for generations. Her deep-rooted commitment to service and leadership reflects the values we hold dear, and we look forward to the insight and dedication she will bring to our mission.”

Please join us in welcoming Andrea to the LWVI Board of Directors. Her leadership, heart, and community spirit will help us continue our mission, .

11/19/2025

Our LWVI team was delighted to visit King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH) and witness the impressive advancements of their corneal surgery program.

The team showcased Endo-In DMEK and other advanced endothelial keratoplasty cases, demonstrating consistently strong surgical outcomes across complex scenarios.

We also reviewed their expanding CAIRS experience for keratoconus, utilizing the Ziemer LDV femtosecond platform to achieve high-precision stromal channel creation, and LWVI’s OptiGraft® CAIRS. Our visit included an excellent wet-lab session, reflecting the hospital’s high technical standards in donor tissue preparation and surgical training.

Our ongoing collaboration with KKESH continues to strengthen our shared commitment to quality, innovation, and delivering patient-centered excellence in corneal care, .

11/19/2025

Today, we proudly celebrate our CEO, Jason Woody, as he marks 35 years with Lions World Vision Institute, an extraordinary milestone that reflects his lifelong dedication to restoring sight and transforming lives.

A fourth-generation Tampa native, Jason began his journey in 1990 as a young Eye Bank Technician. From those early days, his passion, technical expertise, and compassion propelled him to Technical Director and ultimately to his role as President and CEO in 1996.

Over the past three and a half decades, Jason’s leadership has helped deliver the gift of sight to more than 500,000 people worldwide. He has expanded cutting-edge transplant technologies, strengthened global surgeon-training networks, and built a community of donor families, researchers, partners, and clinicians who make sight restoration possible every day.

Jason’s connection to donation is deeply personal. In his family, organ and eye donation is a legacy of compassion and hope. Four of his loved ones have been donors, turning moments of loss into opportunities for others to live, heal, and thrive. Their selflessness continues to inspire his life’s work and reflects the profound impact of giving beyond oneself.

As Jason has shared: “Eye donation has profoundly impacted my family. My father and two sisters were generous contributors as eye donors, transforming a transplant recipient’s life through the gift of sight.”

During his tenure, Jason has been a guiding light in the eye banking industry—advancing innovation, championing donor families, and inspiring countless professionals worldwide. His legacy is measured not only in years of service, but in the thousands of lives touched through the gift of sight.

Beyond LWVI, Jason has served on national and regional boards—always advocating for donors and protecting sight as a basic human right.

Today, we honor a leader who has devoted his life to giving others the chance to see a brighter tomorrow. Thank you, Jason, for your vision, compassion, and extraordinary leadership.

Here’s to all we will accomplish next, .

11/18/2025

👓 This Giving Tuesday, help a child see the joy of giving! A simple pair of glasses can open up a whole new world for a child struggling to see. Mark your calendar for December 2nd and together, we can change how children see the world.

11/17/2025

Today, we are delighted to welcome Steve Bernstein as the newest member of the Lions World Vision Institute Board. As we celebrate , we honor the Everyday Heroes who help guide our mission, including our dedicated Board of Directors.

Steve brings more than 35 years of national leadership in labor and employment law as Regional Managing Partner at Fisher Phillips and co-chair of the firm’s Labor Relations Group. His extensive experience includes representing employers before the NLRB, DOL, and EEOC, along with building preventive employee-relations programs that strengthen organizational culture.

His long-standing community includes service on the Tampa-Hillsborough Planning Commission, the Pepin Academies Foundation Board, the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa Bay, and as past Chair of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

Our CEO Jason K. Woody shares:

“With having employees throughout the country, we look forward to Steve’s invaluable knowledge of employee relations and human relations insight.”

We are grateful for leaders like Steve who help advance our mission to bring the gift of sight to more people, .

11/12/2025

This excitement is growing as LWVI builds the future of vision health in the heart of Ybor City. The LWVI Vision Health Center will be a 20,000-square-foot hub for clinical care, research, and community outreach.

By ensuring that every child can see clearly, the LWVI Foundation helps students reach their full academic potential. The LWVI Vision Health Center is where vision meets community and represents a clear path to care for every child, family, and neighbor.

Learn more at: https://lwvi.org/vision-health/vision-health-center/

11/11/2025

For this we are featuring LWVI Medical Director, Dr. Benjamin Lambright, who highlights the exceptional attendance and engaging interaction at our exhibit.

LWVI wet labs provide cornea surgeons with hands-on training in EK and CAIRS techniques to advance skills in corneal reshaping for patients with keratoconus, .

“We had a great show at AAO with Lions World Vision Institute and had the opportunity to train and connect with surgeons from across the globe during wet labs on Endothelial Keratoplasty and CAIRS Keratoplasty for patients with keratoconus.”

https://youtu.be/jNORMl6yx2g

11/10/2025

Most of Cherrie and Alex’s best talks happened on the front porch of their Northeast Florida home, a place filled with laughter, scooters whirring down sidewalks, and love that ran deep.

Alex was a devoted dad, a man of quiet strength who faced Type 1 diabetes since age 11 but never let it define him. His priorities were simple: faith, family, and giving back. Just a month before he passed, he began mentoring middle schoolers at church to share hope even as his own health declined.

When Alex died at 39, his story didn’t end.

His corneas restored sight to two people. For a man who had lost most of his own vision, that gift felt like divine poetry. “He would have loved that,” Cherrie said. “You will never regret helping someone else because it means someone else gets to see. To see a graduation, a wedding. To see at all.”

After Alex passed, Cherrie found comfort in his community.

People she’d never met came forward with stories about his kindness, his humor, his love for life. She’s now working on projects at their church that he once cared deeply about. Through her grief, she found new , his purpose, and is carrying it forward.

This Eye Donation Month, LWVI honors everyday heroes like Alex—whose love and generosity live on .

11/07/2025

This month, as we celebrate , the Lions World Vision Institute (LWVI) team will be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Ophthalmological Society SOS الجمعية السعودية لطب العيون sharing knowledge and training eye surgeons from around the world.

Through hands-on Wet Labs, our LWVI trainers help surgeons learn, grow, and bring the miracle of sight to more patients in their own communities, .

11/05/2025

For , Sharon Boyes, Executive Director of the LWVI Foundation, spoke to Gayle Guyardo about our new LWVI Vision Health Center on Bloom TV.

Set to break ground next month, the 20,000-square-foot Vision Health Center will deliver comprehensive vision services—including screenings, diagnostics, treatment, and community programs—all under one roof. Designed to close critical service gaps, the center will bring high-quality, compassionate care to those who need it most, hashtag .

“Kids don’t know the world is supposed to look any different,” says Boyes. “By the time vision issues manifest, often around third grade, it can be mistaken for a learning disability — putting children at risk of falling behind.”

https://www.wfla.com/bloom-tampa-bay/honoring-the-gift-of-sight-how-lions-world-vision-institute-is-transforming-eye-health/

WFLA News Channel 8

11/04/2025

This November, LWVI proudly celebrates Eye Donation Month, honoring the everyday heroes whose selfless gifts restore sight and transform lives. 💙

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1410 N 21st Street
Tampa, FL
33605

Telephone

+18132891200

Website

http://www.LWVI.org/

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Our Vision is to help others see.

Our Mission: To set new standards for ocular endeavors that will improve visual outcomes and quality of life for those who are blind or visually impaired.

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Our Vision is to help others see.