Branxton Lions: donors to major eye health program for 50 years
On Saturday 13 July a Gala Dinner was held in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney, hosted by Professor Peter McCluskey, Director, Save Sight Institute Faculty of Medicine and Health University of Sydney, and Lion Bob Gnezdiloff, Chairman of Lions NSW-ACT Save Sight Foundation. The occasion marked several important anniversaries:
- 60 years of the speciality of Clinical Ophthalmology and Eye Health, University of Sydney
- 40 years of the Save Sight Institute, University of Sydney; and
- 50 years of the Lions NSW-ACT Save Sight Foundation
In fact, Branxton Lions Club, as evidenced in this historical document, Save Sight and Eye Health Institute Report dated 1986/87, were one of the Founding Donors to this important Sydney facility.
At the Gala Dinner event, Lion Bob Gnezdiloff, Chairman of the Foundation, made an important announcement: “In order to continue its 50 years of outstanding service to the Community, the Lions Save Sight Foundation presently is being re-structured. However, I am now authorised to tell you that, subject to the completion of the re-structure, the Lions NSW-ACT Sight & Health Fund has pledged up to $500,000 towards the cost of the Opthalmoscope already alluded to tonight by Professor Peter McLuskey and a similar amount to the Lions NSW Eye & Tissue Bank towards the acquisition of equipment for the furtherance of its operations into the future”.
Lions Clubs in NSW and ACT have been central to financial support of the major leaps forward in researching eye problems and, in particular, Corneal transplants from the work of the NSW Eye & Tissue Bank. In 2023, the NSW Tissue Bank has facilitated 480 deceased donations, and 287 living donations. The Bank has supplied 1473 allografts to Clinicians for the treatment of advanced disease and trauma and to have enabled countless more donation stories.
Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization with more than 1.4 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world.
