2024 Lions Legacy of Sight

The Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin is honoring the family of June Lego, of Rhinelander, Wis., with the 2024 Lions Legacy of Sight for her lifetime of work advocating and educating her community in the field of eye donation.

June was a pioneer for the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin. A nurse at the former Rhinelander Memorial Hospital, June established eye and cornea donations in this hospital in the 1970s. She was both an enucleator and educator, advocating for eye donation in her community. As her work progressed, she partnered with the then Wisconsin Eye Bank (UW-Madison) and the Rhinelander Lions Club to establish one of the first transport routes in 1979, a route that went directly from Rhinelander to Madison.

“June did everything,” said Past LEBW Board Chair Peter Cerniglia. “She was (on the eye bank) board. She was an eye enucleator. She helped with the training. And she worked with the transporters.”

Cerniglia said Lego helped raise awareness for eye donation at Rhinelander Memorial Hospital in the late 1970s and had even enlisted the help of the Rhinelander Lions Club to get eyes from Rhinelander to Madison. “By the time I got involved with the eye bank, (the Rhinelander Lions) were already transporting,” Cerniglia said.

Chief Executive Officer Stacey Troha added, “Thanks to June’s pioneering spirit, today’s transporter program at LEBW has more than 2,600 volunteers who cover the entire state of Wisconsin. June made sure that every transporter understood that they were responsible for one of the most precious gifts a human can give to another person. To this day, transporters honor the legacy of every donor, treating each gift with respect, dignity and reverence. June was filled with the Wisconsin Lions Club spirit of serving the community and helping others. Her devotion and dedication to our Mission resonates throughout our transporter program today.”

Since 2007, Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin (LEBW) has honored organ, eye, and tissue donation advocates who have shown commitment and passion by sharing the mission of healing lives through the gift of transplantation.

The Lions Legacy of Sight Award is presented annually and honors individuals outside the professional donation and transplantation community who have significantly impacted the public about donation and promoting donor registration on a state or national level.

LEBW serves thousands of donors and their families annually, placing more than 1,500 corneas with corneal surgeons in Wisconsin, throughout the United States, and worldwide. In addition, LEBW supports donors and their families during their time of loss and facilitates the recovery of corneas for transplant to restore sight to the visually impaired.

LEBW is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and a team of professionals and volunteers passionate about restoring sight, eliminating curable blindness, and advocating for organ, eye, and tissue donation. Our goal is to improve people’s quality of life through the gift of sight.