Physical Health Guatemala Project #35167

Updated: Restore Eyesight to 20,000 Villagers

by RestoringVision

Updated: Restore Eyesight to 20,000 Villagers

Project Report | Jun 5, 2019
Thank You for Creating Access to Glasses with Us!

By Katy Scott | Communications Assistant

Dear RestoringVision supporter,

We'd like to take a moment to share exciting news from RestoringVision, and to thank you for creating access to glasses with us.

In March of this year, RestoringVision Director of Strategic Partnerships, Mac Humphries, visited Guatemala with two of our institutional donors: FGX International and the Shelter Hill Foundation. With the help of our service delivery partners Food For The Poor and Caritas of Guatemala, the group was able to experience first-hand the extraordinary impact that reading glasses have on the lives of people in need.

Paul Shiverick, Trustee of Shelter Hill Foundation, said of the trip, "It is something that we take for granted. In the developed world, everybody who needs a pair of glasses basically has glasses. It is amazing how many people in the third world that need glasses don’t have them.”

To raise awareness on the global lack of access to glasses, we're celebrating #ReadingGlassesDay on June 7. This commemorative date is an opportunity to raise awareness about the lack of access to reading glasses in developing countries, and the impact that glasses have on people’s lives. By focusing attention on this problem and bringing people together, we can make a difference.

As part of Reading Glasses Day, RestoringVision is launching a fundraising campaign. Our goal is to raise $20,000 to create access to glasses for 25,000 people living in impoverished communities in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania. Thanks to the generosity of the RestoringVision Board of Directors, all donations up to $10,000 will be matched!

Addressing the global health crisis of uncorrected vision impairment takes an all hands on deck approach, and we can't do it without your support. With your contribution, we can help even more people in need. Please click here to support #ReadingGlassesDay with a donation today.

Thank you for giving the gift of sight with us!

Best regards,
The RestoringVision Team

P.S. Don't forget to follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter!
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Mar 7, 2019
Your support makes RestoringVision's work possible

By Pelin Munis | Executive Director

Your gift enabled RestoringVision to give the gift of sight.

April is #ReadingGlassesMonth and RestoringVision will be raising awareness about the importance of reading glasses for people living in developing countries. Over 500 million people around the world just need a simple pair of reading glasses to correct their near vision impairment, yet do not have access to glasses. With your help, we can make this global health problem known - and together, we can work to solve it.

For those who depend upon RestoringVision, reading glasses do more than just provide them with clear sight - they provide them with opportunities. Thanks to your donation, they can once again work, learn, care for their children, and participate fully in their communities.

Smiles like these are made possible thanks to your support!

Last year, your generosity aided RestoringVision in raising $12,397 through our 2018 GlobalGiving campaign. Your gift helped bring the gift of sight to 16,529 people in need! In total for the year, RestoringVision transformed the lives of over 3.2 million people - an incredible accomplishment that wouldn't have been possible without your support. On behalf at all of us at RestoringVision, and all of the people we serve, thank you!

We hope we can count on your gift to our 2019 GlobalGiving campaign and your help in spreading the word by following us on social media and sharing our #ReadingGlassesMonth content.

Thank you again for helping us transform lives through the gift of sight!

Best regards,

Pelin Munis
Executive Director

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestoringVision/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restoringvision/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/restoringvision

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Dec 10, 2018
RestoringVision brings the gift of sight to those in need

By Pelin Munis, Ph.D. | Executive Director of RestoringVision

Severely nearsighted young woman receives glasses

Greetings Friends of RestoringVision,

Thanks so much for your generous donation during our Accelerator Challenge! Thanks to you, we are making great strides in bringing the gift of sight to people in need in remote areas all around the word where glasses are simply not available. We’ve been busy – working together with our nonprofit service delivery partners to reach 53 countries since September! We rely on support from individuals like you to make this possible.

October was a particularly special month for RestoringVision. We celebrated our 15-year anniversary in Yucatan, Mexico, where we helped over 800 people in five villages see clearly again. According to our Founder and Chairperson, Mark Sachs, “The trip was especially meaningful to me as it was on an outreach trip to Mexico when I first observed the significant need for glasses in impoverished communities. It was on that trip that I was inspired to create RestoringVision.”

While in Mexico, a team of RestoringVision staff and volunteers from LasikPlus conducted vision screenings and dispensed both reading glasses for presbyopia (farsightedness) and distance vision glasses for myopia (nearsightedness). One of the optometrists on the outreach trip was particularly touched by one young woman – a 20 year-old who had gone her whole life needing assistance with daily tasks. Her family thought she needed extra help because she had Down Syndrome. In fact, the young woman was simply accompanying her family for the vision screening and was not even in line to be seen! The optometrist, Annie, noticed the young woman needed assistance walking up and down stairs and asked if she could conduct a vision screening for her as well. Much to everyone's surprise, Annie quickly discovered that the young woman was suffering from severe vision impairment. She was immediately given a pair of glasses to correct her nearsightedness. The optometrist described her experience: “Reminiscing on the amazing last week, the 800+ glasses that were given out, the gratitude and amazing Mayan culture, and the memories. There were moments where it felt like we were a drop in the ocean in the very real poverty that exists. And a wise man told me, ‘It is the one person whose life you change that really matters.’ I’m not sure if that one person is me or her. I will never forget the first moment that she gained sight. EVER.” (photo above)

Addressing the global health crisis of uncorrected vision impairment takes an all hands on deck approach. We are building a network of change makers and need you to keep the momentum going. Please consider following us on social media and subscribing to our newsletter.

Additionally, we are in the midst of our year-end campaign, and would appreciate you sharing our GlobalGiving campaign among your friends and family so we can meet our goal of raising $15,000 to serve 20,000 villagers. Donations made from now until December 31, 2018 will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling the impact.

Thank you for your support!

Best regards,

Pelin

FB: https://www.facebook.com/RestoringVision/?ref=br_rs

INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/restoringvision/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/restoringvision

Child sees clearly w/new distance vision glasses

Man reads again with new glasses

Woman smiles as she receives new glasses

Mother w/daughters reads with new glasses: Mexico

RestoringVision founder, Mark Sachs gives glasses

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