Lions-sponsored facility plans open house, pupu buffet

The Hawai'i Lions Eye Bank and Makana Foundation are celebrating a 25th anniversary and the opening of a new office and laboratory facility.

A celebration will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow, followed by a laboratory and office open house, at 614 South St., Suite 101 (behind the Queen Street fire station). A lion dance and pupu buffet take place at 6 p.m.

On Friday, the Hawai'i Lions Eye Bank and Makana Foundation host an open house, with tours of the facility at 2 p.m., and pupu and talk story 5 to 7 p.m.

More events round out the celebration Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. Diabetic retinopathy vision screening will be available, using the newest mobile screening equipment, with the Hawai'i Lions Vision Van. Tours, talk-story and pupu will be offered through 5 p.m.

The Hawai'i Lions Eye Bank and Makana Foundation, a non-profit organization sponsored by the District 50-Hawai'i Lions and a project of the Hawai'i Lions Foundation, is dedicated to sight restoration by providing eye tissue (corneas and sclera) for transplantation surgeries. The eye bank also assists in the fight against blindness and helps research institutions further the understanding of blinding diseases.

Since its inception in 1980, the Hawai'i Lions Eye Bank and Makana Foundation has made more than 2,820 cornea transplants possible in the Islands and throughout the world.

For more information, call 536-7416 or write to makanafoundation@yahoo.com.