The World Sight Day Challenge provides an exciting opportunity for optometrists to help millions of people in need, while highlighting to the local community their commitment to help eliminating refractive error blindness around the world.

“Helping people see is a noble contribution to humanity. Optometry has been good to me. Participating in the World Sight Day Challenge is a way to give back to the community and to the profession.”
Dr Stuart Bark, Family EyeCare Associates in Arizona, U.S.

Optometrists are invited to donate their eye exam fees from World Sight Day (October 9th) and/or make a regular donation or celebrate in their practice with staff and patients. Optometrists are encouraged to donate $25 p/mth and staff are invited to make a regular monthly donation of $5.

We have practice materials which provide information to patients about Optometry Giving Sight and about your practice’s participation in the World Sight Day Challenge. Patients can be invited to make a donation of $5 throughout the month of October.

A template press release is included in the World Sight Day Challenge kit and can be personalised to emphasize your participation. Experience has shown that local newspapers are generally happy to run stories about optometrists participating in the Challenge.

"All went well on World Sight Day, we got in two local papers and had good support from patients"
Adrian Cornale from Port Macquarie EyecarePlus, NSW, Australia.

Optometry students are also invited to participate by becoming regular donors of $5 per month and by encouraging their classmates to do the same.

Last year students at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry made presentations to their classes throughout the month of October, resulting in more than 50 students signing up for a donation.

Many of our corporate sponsors will be involved with the World Sight Day Challenge 2008 and will encourage their staff to participate through office fundraising events, such as barbeques and sponsored activities. If you would like your company to participate, please contact us for more information.

Optometrists, their patients, staff, students and others from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia who participated in World Sight Day 2007 raised close to US$250,000 to help those in need. This year your practice can take part and help raise even more!

World Sight Day was established by VISION 2020: The Right to Sight and is held on the third Thursday in October each year. This year it falls on October 9th. Optometry Giving Sight supports the aims of VISION 2020, a global initiative that is aiming to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

The global VISION 2020 focus of World Sight Day 2008 is Eyes on the Future – blindness and vision impairment in later years.

Together we can help millions in need. Register your support today!