Share the Vision

March 2023

Florida Lions Eye Clinic

Monthly Newsletter

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You Can Only Imagine Our Surprise...

On January 21, 2023, WellSky and a select group of healthcare leaders had an extraordinary evening in Orlando ahead of Home Care 100. Guests enjoyed an exclusive and exciting poker tournament for players of all skill levels – hosted by celebrity comedian and actor, Rob Riggle!

Low and behold... the Florida Lions Eye Clinic was selected as the recipient of the Wellsky Foundation grant of $10,000 in the poker tournament winner's name! The notice came to us after the event was over! What a pleasant surprise!

The Clinic is so grateful for the opportunity to continue preventing blindness in our underserved communities! Thank you WellSky!

FLLEC is this month's featured nonprofit at Cars & Coffee 239!

Sunday, March 19, 2023

9-11AM

Mercato, Naples

Be a spectator or bring your car to Southwest Florida’s premier Cars and Coffee event: Cars and Coffee 239. This show draws the most diverse group of vehicles around for an informal and friendly gathering. Grab a cup of coffee at Narrative Coffee Roasters and check out the cars. Expect to see around 400 cars on display along with thousands of spectators.

This month there will be classic to modern BMWs on the VIP Display Lawn! Each car displayed will be paying $50 and all proceeds go to the Clinic!

We would LOVE to have FLLEC representatives at the booth to chat about what we do too!

Please wear your VISION FEST shirts if you have them!!

Guess what's happing during the

EYE-des of March!

WORLD GLAUCOMA WEEK

The second full week in March sets the stage for World Glaucoma Week, bringing awareness to a health condition that could impact as many as 111 million people around the world by 2040. Early detection is an important goal of the awareness campaign, as glaucoma is the world’s second foremost cause of blindness.

Click the photo above to learn more!

Able to drive again!

Jim has been coming to the Florida Lions Eye Clinic for several months, making the trek of over 100 miles down from the Sebring area! He recently had cataract surgery in each eye after being told he was legally blind a year ago!

Judy Galm, President of the Lake Placid Lions Club, has been driving Jim to Bonita Springs for his appointments. Her kind gestures have given Jim the chance to regain his sight, and now she's doing it for Andrew, a new patient of ours coming from the same area! Judy said Jim was "one happy camper" after his first cataract surgery was done. You can only imagine how happy he is now that both are done!

Jim is beyond grateful that the next time he comes back to FLLEC for a follow up he'll be able to drive himself!

Pictured: Jim, Judy Galm, Andrew

It was a perfect day to be on the golf course! On 2/16, Robin & Miranda were keeping an eye out to see if anyone made a hole in one! The Shadow Wood Charitable Foundation hosted their 19th annual golf, dinner, auction and raffle event and we were so excited to be part of it! The Shadow Wood community raises money to help nonprofits such as the Florida Lions Eye Clinic by hosting amazing events for their members to get involved in. We are so grateful for the kindness and support we get from our generous, neighboring communities! Thank you Shadow Wood!

We were so excited to host the Greater Estero Chamber of Commerce Leadership class at the Clinic on 2/17! Not only did they get to SEE what we do here, they had a whole hands-on experience! Did you ever perform eye surgery on a head made out of fruit? They did! Thank you for sharing a fun afternoon with us!

On 2/21, our Director of Development & Marketing, Miranda Escobar, spent a beautiful morning at Lighthouse Bay at the Brooks presenting the Florida Lions Eye Clinic to the members. Accompanied by the delicious smell of fresh muffins baking by Elaine Rumble, the Activity Director, a fantastic group of caring residents were in attendance learning about what we do at the Clinic! Thank you to Fran Darpino for helping facilitate our presentation and inviting us to spread the word! Lighthouse Bay Charitable Foundation has designated the Florida Lions Eye Clinic as one of their 2023 charities!

We love collaborating with good people doing good things! On 2/22, Greater Naples Delta Gamma sorted TONS of glasses with the Theta Zetas! What a fun sip & sort night! Thank you Lynne Hewitt for coordinating, and Diane Bauman for bringing lots of glasses collected that kept everyone busy! These lovely ladies earned Service for Sight volunteer hours, and we LOOK forward to collaborating with them again!

When you are paired up with amazing organizations like the Lighthouse Bay Charitable Foundation, volunteering is fun! Our Executive Director, Robin Goldstone Garcia, and her husband Elliot, had a great time helping out at their dinner event on 3/4! We're so fortunate to be one of their 2023 designated charities! Lighthouse Bay lights the way!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

VISION FEST PHOTOS!!

The Florida Lions Eye Clinic (FLLEC) hosted a successful car show fundraiser in January, and the wheels are still spinning! Vision Fest: Cruisin’ for the Clinic brought so many communities, organizations, volunteers, neighbors, friends and families together for what will go down in history as the biggest outreach event the Clinic has seen since its inception in 2008! The Bonita Springs Lions Club campus was filled with visitors from north of Cape Coral down to Marco Island, and everywhere in between.

Miranda Escobar, Director of Development & Marketing for the Florida Lions Eye Clinic shared, “My heart is bursting knowing we brought so many people together to show off what we do here at the Clinic. This amazing place was founded by retired Ophthalmologists and Lions Club members 15 years ago, and yet so many people still haven’t heard of it. It’s exciting to see how the winds are shifting and our tiny but mighty Clinic is now in everyone’s line of vision! So many visitors got to tour the Clinic and see where the magic happens, and we were able to raise money for our patients who need surgeries and eye care to prevent blindness. Milling through the crowd in both the VIP section and car show, the amount of volunteers you passed with Vision Fest shirts on was unbelievable. The Clinic was fortunate to have the help and support of volunteers from FLLEC, Bonita Springs Lions Club, Greater Naples Delta Gamma, St. John Neumann Catholic High School, FGCU, Pelican Landing Community, Shadow Wood Community, and so many friends and neighbors! We are so proud to have such meaningful collaborations with our community partners that were in attendance, especially State Senator Kathleen Passidomo, Lighthouse Bay Charitable Foundation, Shadow Wood Charitable Foundation, The Bridge Fund, Snead EyeGroup, Collins Vision, and Bonita Springs Downtown Business Alliance. The day was tied together with great music, great food, great raffle prizes and great company! We couldn’t have done it all without our amazing community.”

Do you live in a community that actively volunteers in the area?

Are you part of a group or organization that needs service hours?

Call FLLEC today to partner up today!

We have a need for volunteer Spanish-English translators, Administrative Assistants, Medical/Clinic Assistants, Ophthalmic Assistants, Ophthalmologists, Retina, and Glaucoma specialists.

If you are interested in helping us meet the needs of our underserved neighbors or if you know someone who might be willing to help, please reach out to our Clinic Supervisor, Olivia Pena.

Please click here to download the volunteer form, and return it to Olivia at oliviap@fllec.com or call 239-202-0757 for more information!

Thank you for your help!

EASY SIGN UP HERE!

Have you met Yesenia yet?

Yesenia joined our FLLEC family in January as our new Ophthalmic Assistant! We are so fortunate to have her as a valuable part of our team! Please join us in welcoming Yesi!