The Eye Bank of Kentucky

10/08/2026

Happy World Sight Day! 🌏👁️

Today the world’s attention is focused on blindness, vision impairment, and the importance of accessible eye care.
Roughly 2.2 billion people in the world suffer from vision impairment or blindness, and around half of those cases are entirely preventable.
Nearly everyone in their lifetime will experience an eye health issue in their lifetime, so join us and help us spotlight World Sight Day!

10/06/2026

Every donation has a story, and today we invite you to listen to one that has stayed with us.
In this episode of Radiolab, a podcast created by New York Public Radio, Sarah and Ross Gray share the story of their son, Thomas, who was diagnosed with anencephaly in utero, a fatal condition affecting the development of the brain and skull. What comes after this diagnosis is nothing short of remarkable, and the listener is taken on this family's journey through faith, grief, curiosity and hope as they navigate organ, eye, and tissue donation.
There's no mistaking that parts of donation are extremely difficult to cope with, and the loss of an infant is one that is felt at every level in our community. We're especially moved by this story, the role Thomas's gift continues to play in vision research, and we hope you'll take some time to listen, reflect and experience another side of organ, eye, and tissue donation that isn't often shared.

Click the link below to listen to "Gray's Donation" from Radiolab.

How a donation leads Sarah and Ross Gray to places we rarely get a chance to see. 

10/01/2026

Happy Work Anniversary, Jonathan!

Jonathan, our Assistant Lab Manager, is celebrating 3 years with EBKY. While he has many duties, as all good workers in non-profits do, his time is mostly spent overseeing the daily processing, evaluating, and preservation of the ocular tissue we recover from organ donors. If you're planning a cornea transplant in Kentucky, the chances are high that Jonathan has had a direct hand in your care! We are very proud of the amazing work Jonathan does, and congratulate him on another wonderful year with EBKY!

09/30/2026

So many pieces of mail, so many stories waiting to be told. 💛

As we settle into our new Louisville office we’re finally able to start our Donor Family Legacy Tree, a dedicated space for families of cornea donors to come, reflect, and honor their loved ones and their incredible final gift.
This space will feature our Legacy Tree, an art installation built by donor families who were invited to design leaves for the tree.
This space will always be open to donor families and those who wish to contribute- we can’t wait to get the leaves out of their envelopes and onto the wall!

09/25/2026

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya.
You killed my eyesight.
Prepare to die."

At least, that's what we think he should've said! Did you know actor Mandy Patinkin, famous for his role as Inigo Montoya in the Princess Bride, has had two cornea transplants due to keratoconus?

Patinkin had a cornea transplant in his left eye in 1997 and a cornea transplant in his right eye in 1998, restoring his sight to better than 20/20! With filming of the Princess Bride taking place in '86, it makes the scene when he goes blind from pain all the more real!

09/23/2026

Happy Workiversary to two of our staff, Tatum and Michal!
Tatum, celebrating two years, and Michal, celebrating one year, have been wonderful additions to our EBKY family and we couldn't be happier to have them on the team.
Tatum, our Office Coordinator, is the support behind all things EBKY. Whether it's building the furniture for our new office, mailing after-care letters to donor families, or troubleshooting tech problems for staff, if you've got a problem, Tatum can solve it.
And Michal, our Tissue Distribution Supervisor, is the backbone of our clinical side, overseeing the safe, ethical, and timely allocation, packaging, and shipping of the ocular tissue we recover for transplants, research, and medical education. Her dedication to our mission and eagerness to help others inspires our staff every day.

Please join us in wishing them both a wonderful workiversary!

09/17/2026

When Kim and Philip married in 2015, it was impossible to believe that in four short years their lives would be totally upended.

"2016 was like out of a fairy tale," said Kim, now widow to Philip who became a donor in 2019. During their first year of marriage, Kim remembered fondly their summer spent at their lake house, and how every day Philip would have everything ready for them to go out on the boat. "He would have lunch packed, or dinner, my swimsuit laying out, my flip-flops ready, the towels, everything loaded into the four-wheeler so we could drive down to the boat and load it up... I remember thinking, 'I can't believe this is my life.'" Then, in 2019, Philip lost his life to su***de. Because he was a registered donor, Philip was able to heal many lives through tissue donation. "To me, this is his gift to the world."

Last November, EBKY officially started our Donor Legacy Tree project, a meaningful space for donor families to honor their loved ones and their incredible gift to organ, tissue, and eye donation. Donor families are invited to create artwork that represents this gift in the shape of a leaf to add to the Donor Legacy Tree, and last week, Kim came by our office to drop off Philip's leaf. Dedicated to his, "electrifying blue eyes," Kim's leaf incorporates Philip's signature and a rainbow, a deeply meaningful symbol to Kim. "Everybody that knows me knows about rainbows- every time I see one I feel like it's Philip." To this day, when friends and family see a rainbow, they snap a picture of it and send it to Kim. "So, he comes to me a lot."

Kim, a hospice volunteer, was always registered as an organ donor for as long as she can remember. When she and Philip first met in 2005, she was surprised he wasn't already signed up as an organ donor through his driver's license. With time and lots of conversations, Philip decided to join the registry when he went to renew his driver's license, a day Kim never forgot. "Philip made the world such a better place for all those who knew him. He was quiet and shy and smarter than a whip, with a heart of pure gold. He knew love, happiness, pain and sorrow, but most importantly he knew the Golden Rule and lived his life accordingly. He understood the true meaning of treating all people with dignity and respect... I am so proud of him and his decision to be a donor, not even death could prevent him from this selfless act of compassion. It has and always will be an honor to be his wife."

Perhaps this is what's so meaningful about donation: it creates connection in the midst of loss. It gives families a way to carry their loved one forward, recipients a chance at healing, and all of us a reminder that even after a life ends, the impact of that person's life does not. For Kim, Philip's leaf is one more way to keep his story present, his memory alive, and to honor the man she loved, the life they shared, and the incredible decision he made years before he ever knew how important it would become.

We are deeply honored to give Philip's story a place to live and welcome Philip's leaf to our tree.

09/11/2026

THANK YOU! 💚💙
From all of us at the Eye Bank of Kentucky, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to our mission during this year’s Give for Good Louisville.
Because of you our mission continues, and we are grateful to have a community that shows up for us when we need it!
A special thank you to this year’s donors, and an extra special thank you to our new donors(!!):
🩷Tatum Bishop
❤️Michal Burgan
🧡Katey Buster
💛Sara Callaway
💚Matt Goldberg
🩵Tyler Goldberg
💙Thomas Matney
💜Judy & David Moose
🩷Mary Jo & Charles Pivoney
❤️Lynn Quire
🧡Anna & Robb Shrader
💛Shelley Snyder
💚Lenna Soltau
🩵Karin & Joern Soltau
💙Bradley Tennant
💜Brittney Twigg
Your support helps us continue honoring cornea donors and their families, give the gift of sight, and grow the work we’re able to do here in Kentucky and beyond.
If you missed Give for Good Louisville and would still like to contribute, it’s never too late! You can head to our website at www.EBKY.org and give there.
Thank you for believing in our mission, and thank you to everyone for another gratifying Give for Good Louisville!

09/10/2026

When you contribute to the Eye Bank of Kentucky, you help make the gift of sight possible and you support the entire community behind that gift. Today, for Give for Good Louisville, we want you to know what your support of our small nonprofit really means!
When you give to EBKY, you aid our ability to grow and invest in our first independent home in Louisville, a space built specifically for our mission, our team, our donor families, and the future of eye banking in Kentucky.
When you give, you'll help build our donor family legacy tree where families will be able to honor their loved ones and the incredible gift they left behind.
Our team will continue to learn, collaborate and grow alongside eye banks across the country and around the world, thanks to your contribution. EBKY can participate in even more research initiatives, joining in on national studies and advancing the knowledge behind ocular diseases and eye banking.
And when you contribute, you help us weather those uncertain times so that, no matter what, we can continue showing up for the people who depend on this mission.
Behind EBKY is a team of fewer than 20 full-time staff members, along with our PRN team and the many partners, surgeons, hospitals, donor families and advocates who make this work possible. So, when you support EBKY, your gift is felt here.
Our goal this year is $3500, and every single contribution gets us closer to reaching it! Whether you give $10, $25, or $50, you become part of the community that makes our work possible.
Give now and invest in the people, programs and community behind the gift of sight: https://www.giveforgoodlouisville.org/organization/Ebky
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09/09/2026

Hey y'all, early giving for Give for Good Louisville starts now! 💚
When you contribute to EBKY, every dollar helps us honor donors and support their families, restore sight to those in need, and advance research and training, protecting sight for generations to come.
Give early. Give for sight. Give for Good Louisville!