SAN DIEGO, Calif.— Augen Optics has announced its participation in Ver Bien Para Aprender Mejor (or “See Better to Learn Better”), a program in Mexico that distributes free eyeglasses annually to public school children throughout the country, according to a statement. Having participated in the non-profit program for the past three years, Augen is now partnering with San Francisco design firm fuseproject—known for the One Laptop Per Child initiative.

Noting that poor vision interferes with school learning, Marco Machado-Torres, COO for Augen Optics and director of the program for Augen, said, “As the only eyeglass lens manufacturing company founded in Mexico, we are thrilled to participate in this program to help children in our country see better. Providing eyeglasses for the Ver Bien Para Aprender Mejor program is our family’s way of participating in building the future of Mexico and giving back after the significant success Augen has achieved here and throughout North America.”

The program gives a free eye exam administered in schools and students are then encouraged pick their own frames through the special options catalogue. The prescription and desired frames are produced locally by Augen and then delivered to the schools, according to a post on fuseproject’s blog.

Augen enlisted the help of fuseproject’s Yves Béhar upon recognizing an opportunity to decrease the cost of the frames that were being provided. Behar created Collección Escolar 2010, custom frames for students aged 6-18 years old made from hyper-flexible Gilamid plastic which are fully customizable with top and bottom colors that can be mixed and matched to fit children’s personal choices.

Within the program, the glasses are provided by Augen at cost with the total program costs being paid for through donations to Ver Bien Para Aprender Mejor. Augen has added a frame manufacturing facility to its plant in Ensenada, Mexico, in order to oversee and ensure quality control of eyeglass production from start to finish.