A multimillion-dollar donation from the Glazer family, which owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will help ensure underserved children across the region receive free eye care and glasses.
The recently announced gift will fund the new Glazer Vision Health Center in historic Ybor City. Lions World Vision Institute expects the 30,000-square-foot facility to open in 2027 and serve about 23,000 children annually.
CEO Jason Woody believes the new center and an expanding fleet of mobile clinics can reach 190,000 children over the next five years. The nonprofit’s overarching mission is to remove systemic barriers that often prevent low-income families from receiving life-changing eye care.
“Our goal is to have the building paid off and be debt-free by April of 2027, so that every dime raised goes to programs,” Woody told the Tampa Bay Reporter. “Every dime raised from that point forward goes toward helping children.”
Founded in 1969, Tampa-based Lions World Vision Institute (LWVI) believes eyesight is a basic human right. What started as a small, local initiative is now the world’s largest combined eye bank, ocular research center and pediatric vision health organization.
For nearly two decades, the Glazer Family Foundation, which also owns renowned English soccer club Manchester United, has supported full-treatment vision correction for underserved children. Those efforts honor the late Malcolm Glazer, who credited his first pair of prescription glasses for enabling lifelong success.
“What if someone didn’t recognize that he needed glasses?” Woody said of Glazer. “The trajectory of his career and what he was able to accomplish – they’re very passionate about that.”
The family announced the donation in late October without providing an exact dollar amount. LWVI, however, announced Nov. 5 that it only has to raise $3.5 million to pay off the $16 million project.
Woody said the center will fundamentally change how the institute delivers care. The core issue is that children in Title I schools, those that receive federal funding for serving a high number of low-income students, often struggle academically because they cannot see the whiteboard or their textbooks.
“Children do not know that they’re visually impaired,” Woody said. “They don’t know they are any different from anybody else.”
He said children who struggle to see are frequently labeled slow learners. That can alter lifelong trajectories.
One of the most commonly shared impairments among minors incarcerated in Florida is poor vision, Woody said.
“When we had to read a paragraph in class, you remember how nervous you got,” he elaborated. “You kept reading your paragraph; you didn’t hear what anybody else said. Well, if you can’t read that – kids don’t mean to be cruel, but they make fun of you. You surely don’t want to go back to school the next day. And then you go home and have the reinforcement that you’re a slow learner.”
Most low-income families with vision-impaired children rely on vouchers, Woody said. After a screening, students are sent home with a piece of paper to redeem for glasses at a commercial retailer.
Woody believes that model is heavily flawed, as roughly 70% of those vouchers are never redeemed. Children lose them, fear being bullied or parents lack transportation to get to a store.
When families do arrive, Woody added, they often face a small, unappealing selection of free frames. Parents must either disappoint their child or admit they cannot afford the upgrades.
LWVI designed the Glazer Vision Health Center to eliminate those hurdles.
After a free screening at the Ybor City facility, children can choose from 50 stylish frames independently without financial guilt. “Within 30 minutes, they will leave with glasses on their face,” Woody said.
“There is no follow-up,” he continued. “There isn’t anything else.”
If a child loses their glasses, LWVI keeps their prescription and frame choice on file and will mail a free replacement within 48 hours. “We decided to take all those barriers out,” Woody said.
LWVI will initially occupy about 7,000 square feet on the facility’s third floor. Woody said there is significant room for future expansions, including free vision care for adults entering the workforce.
The Glazer family’s gift also supports long-term programmatic sustainability. LWVI began operating the foundation’s Mobile Vision Clinic in 2021, providing staffing and equipping its prescription lens lab with a full selection of frames.
The nonprofit is now expanding mobile operations from four counties to 11. Sprinter vans can make glasses on-site and will reach an additional 15,000 students annually.
“Our family believes every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential,” said Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, owner of the Bucs and chair of the Glazer Family Foundation, in a statement. “And access to quality vision care plays a vital role in making that possible.”
