https://givingsight.org/news/2023-projects-supported/

Supporting the Growth of Optometry in Vietnam

Supporting the Growth of Optometry in Vietnam

Ten years ago, only three qualified optometrists were practicing in Vietnam. However, efforts to expand optometry in the country, supported by Optometry Giving Sight (OGS), have resulted in the graduation of hundreds of optometry students.

2023 Projects Supported

2023 Projects Supported

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) awarded these 2023 grants totaling more than $930,000 to partner organizations in support of self-sustaining initiatives that address preventable vision impairment and blindness for people of all ages around the world. This life-changing work would not be possible without your support.

Expanding eye care for women, children, and the LGBTQ+ community

Expanding eye care for women, children, and the LGBTQ+ community

Thanks to the support of OGS, In Her Vision is able to hire additional personnel, allowing them to expand to four clinics per month and serve up to 40 patients at each event. Through the funding, 3,200 people every year will benefit. The OGS funding also enabled the organization to hire a driver, expanding its reach beyond its current 20-mile radius to those living in surrounding counties.

Optometry Giving Sight Names Sarah Burtner as New Director of Communications

Optometry Giving Sight Names Sarah Burtner as New Director of Communications

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) is pleased to announce that Sarah Burtner, M.A., has joined our staff as Director of Communications.“We’re excited to welcome Sarah to our team,” said Lois Schoenbrun, executive director, OGS. “She brings a wealth of experience in communications, marketing and public relations to the organization, and has served in the non-profit sector as a volunteer, Board Member and senior staff member.”

Optometry Giving Sight Sets $500,000 Fundraising Goal for the 2023 World Sight Day Challenge

Optometry Giving Sight Sets $500,000 Fundraising Goal for the 2023 World Sight Day Challenge

With only a few weeks remaining, Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has announced a $500,000 fundraising goal for its 2023 World Sight Day Challenge. Donations will fuel the organization’s efforts to help eradicate uncorrected refractive error through the growth and expansion of optometry around the world. As thousands of eye care professionals convene in New Orleans for Academy 2023 and observe World Sight Day, OGS calls upon the optometry community to help achieve this goal.

Optometry students in Haiti receive invaluable  hands-on training, despite civil unrest

Optometry students in Haiti receive invaluable hands-on training, despite civil unrest

Imagine a population of 11 million people—and only seven optometrists. This ratio is a reality in Haiti, a country that has faced significant, continuous hardships including political instability, a poor economy, natural disasters, the COVID pandemic, and more. In 2017, Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) partnered with Université d’Etat d’Haiti, Université de Montréal, VOSH/International, Charity Vision, and the Brien Holden Foundation to establish the Haiti School of Optometry. The partners set out to increase the number of locally trained optometrists and to establish an Academic Vision Centre to provide hands-on optometric training and care.

WestGroupe and Carl Zeiss Vision Canada Contribute More Than $234,000 to date through their ValuePak Promotion

WestGroupe and Carl Zeiss Vision Canada Contribute More Than $234,000 to date through their ValuePak Promotion

For seven consecutive years, WestGroupe and Carl Zeiss Vision Canada have donated a portion of the proceeds raised from its ValuePak frame and lens package—which includes Superflex® frames and synchrony® lenses—and now their Lenz Pak packages—to Optometry Giving Sight (OGS). Through this ongoing promotion, the companies have raised more than $234,000 to date in cumulative funds for OGS, the only organization dedicated to eradicating uncorrected refractive error through the growth and expansion of optometry around the world.

Addition of Dr. Susy Yu to Board of Directors

Addition of Dr. Susy Yu to Board of Directors

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Dr. Yu to our board of directors. Her years of experience in optometry—in practice, administration, governance, and leadership—will be an enormous asset as she brings valuable insight to the benefit of OGS and our partners,” said Lois Schoenbrun, executive director, OGS.

Developing long-term eye care where it’s needed most: Nicaragua

Developing long-term eye care where it’s needed most: Nicaragua

As eye care professionals, we know the power of optometry. Every day, we see the effect vision correction has on the lives of our patients. Beyond our exam rooms – in some of the most underserved areas of the world – the most basic eye care keeps kids in school, people at work, and can even bring communities out of poverty.

Welcoming Nikki Earich as our Development Director, North America

Welcoming Nikki Earich as our Development Director, North America

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Nikki Earich as our Development Director, North America. In her new role, Earich is responsible for developing and managing the organization’s fundraising initiatives, while building and strengthening partnerships with optometric practices, eye care professionals, and other key industry stakeholders.

2022 Year In Review

2022 Year In Review

2022 Year in Review – Your Support Made a Difference! These projects were supported in 2022:

Expanded Partnership between Optometry Giving Sight & VuePoint IDS

Expanded Partnership between Optometry Giving Sight & VuePoint IDS

VuePoint IDS will provide more than $100,000 of in-kind advertising to OGS in 2023 alone, across all of its Optik print and digital publications, as well as its Clinical & Refractive Optometry online continuing education platform, enabling OGS to reach an audience it may not have had easy access to before.

YOU Make a Difference – Meet Yamilet from Mexico!

YOU Make a Difference – Meet Yamilet from Mexico!

At her primary school in Cienega de Zimatlan, Mexico, Yamilet Castellanos struggled to see her books and the whiteboard at the front of the class. Both her parents suspected Yami, as her parents call her, had an eye problem but were unable to access vision care services due to their extremely limited resources.

YOU Make a Difference – Meet the Graduates!

YOU Make a Difference – Meet the Graduates!

Donations to Optometry Giving Sight make an impact by giving sight to people in need through the projects we fund. One of our funding priorities is to train local people as optometrists in the communities in which they live, all over the world. One of the most successful optometry schools we fund is in Mzuzu, Malawi. 

You Make a Difference! Meet Kiet from Vietnam.

You Make a Difference! Meet Kiet from Vietnam.

Donations to Optometry Giving Sight make an impact by giving sight to people in need through the projects we fund. One of the projects we support established the Pediatric Refractive Error Training Center (PRETC) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Dr. Minh Anh Tran, an optometrist, educator and supervisor at PRETC, tells the story of how a young boy’s life changed because of this support.

Welcome to our New Monthly Newsletter

Welcome to our New Monthly Newsletter

This monthly newsletter will provide you with a snapshot of a donor/practice and a grantee. It is important that you feel the impact of your dollars. We are unable to reach the thousands we help serve each year and provide, on a sustainable basis, the gift of sight to underserved individuals and communities around the world without you.

Spring 2022 Newsletter

Spring 2022 Newsletter

Welcome to FourSight, Optometry Giving Sight’s newly designed quarterly newsletter. Inside you will read about all the work we have been doing and will see firsthand the collective impact you have made on the projects we support that provide the gift of sight and hope!

Winter 2021 Newsletter

Winter 2021 Newsletter

We are delighted to share with you our quarterly Fall 2021 Newsletter. Here our supporters will get news on recent OGS developments as we move forward in helping to bring accessible and sustainable eye care to those in need. Thank you for your support!

Fall 2021 Newsletter

Fall 2021 Newsletter

We are delighted to share with you our quarterly Fall 2021 Newsletter. Here our supporters will get news on recent OGS developments as we move forward in helping to bring accessible and sustainable eye care to those in need. Thank you for your support!

Your Donations at Work – Manila, Philippines

Your Donations at Work – Manila, Philippines

Your donations to Optometry Giving Sight helped fund Canadian Vision Care’s support for eye care in Manila, Philippines. Their partnership with the SPECS Eye Train Clinic provides eye care out of two creatively converted railway cars.

Eyes On Dry Eye Raises $1,500 for Optometry Giving Sight

Eyes On Dry Eye Raises $1,500 for Optometry Giving Sight

Eyes On Dry Eye, held April 23-24, 2021, was pleased to choose Optometry Giving Sight as the charity of choice for the event. The charity was spotlighted in the Virtual Conference Bag, and attendees were invited to click a button for which Eyes On Dry Eye would donate $1 in their name.

Optometry Giving Sight Announces New Board of Directors

Optometry Giving Sight Announces New Board of Directors

Optometry Giving Sight is pleased to announce that it has formed a new board of directors. The fund-raising organization operates in Canada and in the United States, with two separate boards, with the same directors for both.

The U.S. Board is chaired by Dr. Juan Carlos Aragón, who has been active with Optometry Giving Sight as a board and committee member for over 10 years. The Canadian Board is chaired by Dr. Susan Cooper, also involved with OGS over the past decade.

Winter Spring 2021 Newsletter

Winter Spring 2021 Newsletter

We are delighted to share with you our quarterly Winter Spring 2021 Newsletter. Here our supporters will get news on recent OGS developments as we move forward in helping to bring accessible and sustainable eye care to those in need. We hope to put the significant challenges of 2020 behind us and are grateful to those who were able to continue their support of OGS despite the circumstances. Thank you for your support!

COVID-19 Relief & Equality in Eye Health Fund

COVID-19 Relief & Equality in Eye Health Fund

In response to COVID-19 and in solidarity with the recent protests against racism, Optometry Giving Sight is making available a COVID-19 Relief Fund for fellow eye care nonprofits/charities that provide services within the United States and Canada.

Why Optometry for Uganda?

Why Optometry for Uganda?

The Brien Holden Foundation has led the development of the optometry program at Makerere University in Uganda. The creation of skilled optometrists will in time increase the efficiency of eye care services in Uganda and improve the health system’s cost-effectiveness.

Carl Zeiss Vision and WestGroupe ValuePak Donations Exceed $110,000

Carl Zeiss Vision and WestGroupe ValuePak Donations Exceed $110,000

Beginning in 2016, WestGroupe and Carl Zeiss Vision Canada pledged to make a donation to Optometry Giving Sight for each of their new ValuePak Frame and Lens packages sold. ValuePak packages include Superflex® Frames with synchrony® Lenses from Carl Zeiss Vision which...

Giving Sight to Children in Mexico

Giving Sight to Children in Mexico

Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor has been working in Mexican public schools for more than 21 years, doing screening for refractive errors and delivering eyeglasses to those children who need them. Optometry Giving Sight has been supporting their work for several years and...

U.S. Children Need Eye Exams – Kids See: Success Partnership

U.S. Children Need Eye Exams – Kids See: Success Partnership

Optometry Giving Sight is very pleased to again be supporting the Vision Impact Institute’s Kids See: Successs program for 2020. This initiative was first launched and supported by Optometry Giving Sight in 2016 to fight for mandatory comprehensive eye exams for...