08/17/2026
⭐Lions World Vision Institute's Mission Moment⭐
In honor of National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month in August, the team at Lions World Vision Institute would like to highlight our former colleague, Tavi. She was extremely passionate about this topic and was the lead behind LWVI's National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month initiatives. Tavi was extremely proud of her Native American heritage as an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. She cared deeply about equity and representation in donation and transplantation and wondered why there wasn’t more outreach in Native communities. She sought out others who shared that concern, determined to help make a change. This work meant everything to her. 💚💙
This is Tavi's story:
Tavi loved the Montana sky. She would linger outside at sunrise and sunset, gazing above her, teaching her daughters, Shalaina and Journey, about the constellations while they lay together stargazing. The stars and sky were passions and one of the few things that could still her mind completely.
Tavi loved faces, especially the faces of her family. Her daughters were her world, and becoming a grandmother brought her immense joy. Her proudest moments were always about her kids. They remember her crying happy tears over their school achievements, glowing with pride when Journey went off to school, overwhelmed with love the first time she held her grandbaby. Family, to Tavi, was the meaning of life.
She was protective, generous with advice, and steady in moments of conflict. Strong and kind, she believed in letting go of anger and meeting people where they were instead of forcing them to change. “Don’t live your life in anger,” she would say. “Focus on yourself. Be ready for the conversation when it comes.”
Her professional path led her to Lions World Vision Institute in 2015 as an Eye Recovery Technician and eventually joined Partner Relations in January 2022 and quickly made an indelible mark. She embraced new challenges, of organizing the department’s systems and ran them behind the scenes.
Donation was personal to Tavi. She spoke about it with her daughters often. It was close to her heart, part of her belief that the world could be better and that each person had a role in making that happen. Both Shalaina and Journey are donors themselves, inspired by her passion.
Tavi changed the worlds closest to her. Through kindness, strength, humor, and fierce love. She believed in leaving things better than you found them. In her family, in her work, in her community, and in the lives she continues to touch through donation; she did exactly that.
🌐To learn more about LWVI's mission to elevate standards in sight restoration, tissue transplantation, research, and education, please visit: https://lwvi.org/
---
