Lions Club members from St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Tampa realized the need for an eye bank located in central Florida.
While there were already two eye banks in Florida: North Florida Lions Eye Bank in Jacksonville and Florida Lions Eye Bank in Miami, there was no single, consistent non-profit serving donor families and recipients in the central Florida area.
Lions John Bartley, Lawrence Dye, Peter Leto, Daniel Carter, Harold Hamacher, Robert Reilly, and Lionesses Marion Hamacher and Clare Miller were instrumental in forming the vision to establish the Central Florida Lions Eye Bank.