Local activities / news/ events
Rodenstock Raises £500 for Optometry Giving Sight
Rodenstock is pleased to announce the success of its recent charitable campaign which raised £500 for Optometry Giving Sight. The company, which is one of Europe’s leading frame & lens manufacturers, carried out a special promotion in the UK whereby a generous donation was made to Optometry Giving Sight for every pair of Impression FreeSign® lenses sold between January and March.
Optometry Giving Sight would like to thank ‘Rodenstock UK’ and its customers for their valuable support and for setting a great lead within the industry.
Replay Learning takes on Great Run
Peter Charlesworth, Managing Director and Laura Davidson, Project Manager from Replay Learning are taking part in the Great Edinburgh Run on the 4th of May in aid of Optometry Giving Sight. Thousands of runners are expected to take part in one of the world’s most scenic 10km courses around Scotland’s historical capital city.
Training is already underway for the event. This is the first time Laura has taken part in a run and she said, “I’m finding the training more difficult than I expected but I’m looking forward to the challenge.” Peter is aiming to complete the course in 50 minutes - his previous best time over 10Km, set 18 years ago. It is hoped that £1000 will be raised for Optometry Giving Sight. Lavina Menezes from Optometry Giving Sight will also join Laura and Peter in the run.
If you would like to help Peter andLaura meet their target, simply click here and remember to add ‘Peter’ Run’ or ‘Laura’s Run’ to the comments box. Just £25 could provide an eye examination and glasses for 5 people.
Concept Eye Clinic takes on Practice Giving
Exclusive new eye boutique Concept Eye Clinic announced its support for Optometry Giving Sight at its glamorous launch event in Gosforth last month in the form of a ‘buy one, we give one free’ campaign. For every pair of spectacles purchased in the practice, Concept Eye Clinic will make a donation to Optometry Giving Sight to help fund the provision of an eye examination and pair of glasses for communities in the developing world.
“Good quality eye care services are something we take for granted here in the UK,” said Vik Kumar, optometrist and Managing Director of Concept Eye Clinic, “yet there are millions of people around the world who are blind or vision impaired because they don’t have access to such services. When my patients come for an eye exam and buy a pair of glasses, we will be helping someone in the developing world to have that same opportunity.”
For information about how you can make a difference in your practice, please click here.
Optometry Giving Sight Welcomes New UK Country Manager
Optometry Giving Sight is pleased to welcome Louise Walpole as the new Country Manager for the UK. Louise will be joining the UK team from her previous role at Ten Alps Publishers, where she was a Client Account Manager in charge of the department for Optometry Today magazine, among other titles. Louise brings with her over eight years experience in sales and marketing, as well as proven organizational skills and knowledge of the optometric industry.
More than £8,000 raised in World Sight Day Challenge
A fantastic result of more than £8,000 was achieved thanks to the many practices and individuals that took part in the World Sight Day Challenge. Congratulations to Northampton practice Tompkins, Knight & Son who raised the most on the day. As well as being a regular donor and making a practice donation on World Sight Day, practice owner Brian Tompkins (left) had cakes and sweets for all patients who donated and a bottle of bubbly as an incentive for staff involvement.
Optometry Giving Sight would like to thank everyone who participated in the Challenge; every donation is playing a vital part in giving sight – and hope – to some of the millions in need.
Myers La Roche Names Optometry Giving Sight as its Charity of Choice
Myers La Roche, the largest consultancy in the UK and Ireland specializing exclusively in the optical profession, has named Optometry Giving Sight as its International Charity of Choice.
Patrick Myers, Director of Myers La Roche, explains: “Our products and services are specifically aimed at optometrists and opticians, and therefore it makes sense
to support a charity directly related to our profession.”
“We want to join the AOP and many others around the world to play our part in eliminating refractive error blindness by the year 2020, and encourage all optical professionals to sign up to regular donations” said Patrick. “We will be donating £10 for every Practice Health Check and Optic2000 Club Membership that we sell in 2008 and urging our customers to match this by making a donation too.”
Optometry Giving Sight will be present at the Myers La Roche Best Practice 2008 Programme from March to June.
Rodenstock Supports Optometry Giving Sight
Rodenstock is supporting the work of Optometry Giving Sight by making a generous donation for each Rodenstock Impression FreeSign® lens dispensed from now until the
end of March.
“We would like to thank the fantastic loyalty of our Rodenstock customers as their support enables us to help this most worthwhile optometric charity,” said Nick Loan, Managing Director of Rodenstock (left).
Bob Chappell, Chairman of Optometry Giving Sight’s National Committee, is delighted with Rodenstock’s lead: “This is the first lens company to get involved with Optometry Giving Sight in the UK. We hope that, together, significant funds can be raised to support our Priority Projects in Africa and Sri Lanka.”
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Save the date for World Sight Day Challenge October 2008! |
Specsavers Gala Dinner in Australia raises $74,000
The first Australian annual Specsavers Gala Dinner, held in December, saw a record sum raised for Optometry Giving Sight. Suppliers, optometrists and company founders Doug and Dame Mary Perkins all contributed to raise almost AU$74,000 (£33,000) for projects that will give sight to people with uncorrected refractive error.
Dame Mary Perkins was thrilled with the result. “It’s a fantastic feeling for us to be a part of raising such a large amount of money for Optometry Giving Sight,” she said. “Specsavers has been very committed to a range of charitable activities in the UK and Europe for many years now and we want to bring that same dedication to Australia too. This is a great start and we thank all our suppliers and our partners for such a strong show of mutual support to a very worthwhile cause.”
Professor Brien Holden CEO, Optometry Giving Sight, said that the dinner was the single largest fund-raising event in Optometry Giving Sight’s Australian history and he applauded the company for its well known support for social and community causes. “Tonight we saw that leadership in action,” he said.
Optimed Becomes Gold National Sponsor
Optimed Ltd, the leading ophthalmic digital signage company in the UK, has announced its commitment to Optometry Giving Sight by becoming a Gold National Sponsor.
Optimed will not only provide financial support, but will utilise the power of their unique digital signage technology, the expertise of their design team and the encouragement of their sales staff to raise awareness of Optometry Giving Sight and generate support amongst even more members of the optical community.
“I have always been a supporter of Optometry Giving Sight since it launched in the UK,” explains Dr Trusit Dave, optometrist and Director of Optimed Ltd. “I am delighted that we are now at a stage where Optimed can give its support too. We are looking forward to helping Optometry Giving Sight reach even more optometrists and to give them the opportunity to use our i-Vue digital signage systems to reach out to patients visiting practices as well.”
$5 million Allocated to Projects
Speaking at the American Academy of Optometry, the Executive Chairman and CEO of Optometry Giving Sight, Professor Brien Holden, announced that Optometry Giving Sight would disperse its first US$1,000,000 by the end of 2007. The funds will support projects that will give sight to people with refractive error blindness and impaired vision in Africa, Sri Lanka, East Timor and Indigenous Australia.
The funds have been raised by optometrists, their staff and patients in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe.
“We are on track to raise the next US$4 million in 2008 and 2009, and the Board thought it wise for strategic planning and synergy purposes to allocate funds going forward to complete the current priority projects,” said Professor Holden. > more
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