By Caroline Miller, Marketing & Communications Specialist
As a global leader in the field of eye banking, Eversight enables donors and their families to give the gift of sight and takes great pride in being responsible stewards of the gifts entrusted to us. We wouldn’t be able to continue this work without our trusted partners.
Many organizations help Eversight work toward our mission to restore sight and prevent blindness through the healing power of donation, transplantation and research. That help can look very different depending on the partner.
KearnyBank Foundation is dedicated to delivering meaningful support to the organizations that make the foundation’s community better, like Eversight.
In 2024, KearnyBank Foundation awarded Eversight a $10,000 grant to support clinical operations that will facilitate the gift of sight to New Jersey residents.
When choosing who to award grants to, Craig Montanaro, President and CEO of Kearny Bank, said the foundation has four focus areas they look at: education, housing, community betterment and quality of life.
“We look at the grants and say, ‘What are we trying to achieve this year?’ and ‘What's the focus?’ It's really community based,” Craig said.
The foundation awards grants to organizations that fall into one of those categories that will help improve the lives of people throughout the communities they serve.
Eversight fell into the 'quality of life' bucket and was selected because of our shared mission to help those in need.
“Nobody in the foundation that I know, or connected with our foundation has ever lost their sight,” Craig said. “I said to our directors, ‘Imagine if you lost your sight, at this point in your life, let alone born being blind and having that challenge,’ It's an incredibly difficult situation and you don't hear a lot about it.”
The $10,000 grant awarded to Eversight by the foundation will change the lives of Clark Township residents who are struggling with vision loss or impairment. While there is no waiting list for cornea transplants in the United States, the need is still great.
“I didn't really think about cornea transplants that could give somebody sight,” he said. “It didn't even dawn on me that there's somebody out there and if you give them a cornea transplant, they might be able to see again or see for the first time.”
KearnyBank Foundation is a branch of Kearny Bank, which has been serving New Jersey residents for 140 years, helping local friends and neighbors succeed in 43 communities across the region.
Through our shared mission to help others, KearnyBank Foundation and Eversight will be able to transform more lives in the communities we serve.
“This is a perfect example of a grassroots nonprofit locally that is helping and making better quality of life for a sector of our population in New Jersey that has a need,” Craig said. “This is true quality of life. There's a big difference between a kid getting a scholarship to college and giving somebody sight."
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