SEE International Celebrates $100,000 Endowment Gift from Greater Goleta Santa Barbara Lions Club

Last week, local nonprofit SEE International celebrated a $100,000 endowed gift from the Greater Goleta Santa Barbara Lions Club during a community event held at the organization’s SEE Vision Care clinic in Goleta.

The gift will support SEE Vision Care (SVC), SEE International’s local program providing free eye care services to uninsured and underinsured individuals throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Through five clinic locations, a mobile vision clinic, and community outreach events, SVC provides vision screenings, comprehensive eye exams, prescription glasses, and sight-restoring surgeries at no cost to qualifying patients.

Community leaders, Lions Club members, SEE International staff, and representatives from local government offices gathered to recognize the partnership and its impact on access to vision care in the area. 

“This generous gift from the Goleta Lions Club will allow SEE to extend its services beyond what we would have been able to do without them,” said SEE International President and CEO Don Bell. “That includes the acquisition of additional equipment, as well as the ability to treat more patients.”

The endowed gift will help strengthen SVC’s Goleta clinic location, expanding its reach and enhancing the quality of care available to local residents facing barriers to vision services.

According to Bell, the need for affordable eye care remains significant throughout the community. Many individuals delay or forgo care due to financial constraints, often allowing vision problems to worsen over time.

“For local families who are living paycheck to paycheck, an eye exam and a pair of prescription glasses can easily run $400-$500,” Bell said. “When faced with the choice of paying the rent, buying food, paying the electric bill, or buying a pair of glasses, chances are it’s the glasses that will be pushed to the wayside. So to receive a free eye exam and glasses at no cost to the patient fills a needed gap in the community.”

The Greater Goleta Santa Barbara Lions Club has a longstanding history of supporting vision-related causes, making its partnership with SEE International a natural fit. Both organizations share a commitment to improving quality of life through increased access to eye care.

“The Lions of this area have historically been very heavily involved in trying to support vision care…There is a tremendous amount of need in the community, and SEE and the Lions Club are well positioned to help out…It’s exciting to be a part of that,” said Jon Hergert, the current President of the Greater Goleta Santa Barbara Lions Club.  

For more than 50 years, SEE International has worked to restore sight around the world. Locally, SEE Vision Care continues to serve thousands of patients annually, helping ensure that financial circumstances do not stand in the way of essential eye care.

About SEE International: SEE is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization that provides medical, surgical, and educational services to restore sight and make high-quality eyecare more accessible around the world and here at home. The organization has a network of volunteer ophthalmologists who help address preventable blindness by providing free sight-restoring surgeries and eyecare services to communities in need. Since 1974, SEE has served over 5.2 million individuals and performed over 834,000 sight-restoring surgeries worldwide. For more information, visit www.seeintl.org.