CHICAGO, May 31, 2024 – Illinois Prairie Community Foundation, through its Annual Campaign Fund, has awarded Eversight a $2,000 grant to support the purchase of sight-restoring recovery supplies for McLean and Livingston counties.
This grant will ensure that local cornea donors and their families can give the gift of sight to help people receive life changing cornea transplants or contribute to eye and vision research.
“Illinois Prairie Community Foundation is pleased to support Eversight’s program to give the gift of sight to residents in our community,” said Michele Evans, Grants & Communications Director at Illinois Prairie Community Foundation. “This year alone, we have awarded grants more than $300,000 to nonprofit organizations working to better the lives of all in our community.”
In 2023, Eversight worked with the families of 53 McLean and Livingston County residents who gave the gift of sight as cornea tissue donors, thanks in part to the generosity of Illinois Prairie Community Foundation’s Annual Campaign Fund.
In the same year, Eversight provided 19 tissues for transplant that restored sight to McLean and Livingston County residents.
"Through the support of the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation’s Annual Campaign Fund, Eversight can continue transforming lives and honoring donor wishes in McLean and Livingston counties,” said Marta Garczarczyk, Philanthropy Director, Eversight. “We are grateful to be given the support that allows us to facilitate the gift of sight for those in need.”
As the sole eye bank serving Illinois, Eversight is committed to providing tissue for sight-saving surgeries, made possible by Illinois donor families; conducting innovative research into blinding eye diseases; administering education and training for our partner surgeons and more.
Illinois Prairie Community Foundation is a grant-making public charity dedicated to improving the lives of people in McLean, DeWitt, Livingston and Logan counties. Their mission is to connect people who care with causes that matter by offering philanthropic leadership, organization and grant-making for the long-term enrichment of the community.
Visit eversightvision.org/give to join the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation in contributing to our mission today and help make our life-changing work possible.
About Eversight
Eversight is a nonprofit organization with a mission to restore sight and prevent blindness through the healing power of donation, transplantation and research. The Eversight network is responsible for recovering, evaluating and providing human eye tissue for transplantation; supporting research into the causes and cures of blinding eye conditions; promoting donation awareness through public and professional education; and providing humanitarian aid to people around the world in need of corneal transplantation. Operating in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and South Korea, Eversight works in collaboration with surgeons, researchers, academic medical centers and eye banks across the United States and abroad. For more information, visit eversightvision.org.
Media Contact
Mackenzie Mohr
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(517) 204-1413