University of Waterloo student Greg Carr was the
winning student in 2008 and volunteered his services
for a week on an Optometry Giving Sight sponsored
project in Haiti.
NEW YORK—Optometrists, optometry students and industry professionals across the U.S. are gearing up for participation in 2010’s World Sight Day, Oct. 14, part of the World Sight Day Challenge, a major $4 million fundraising campaign coordinated by Optometry Giving Sight (OSG) to raise funds for projects which provide vision care, local training and infrastructure support for people who are blind or vision impaired due to uncorrected refractive error.

Vic Connors, OD, chair of the USA National Committee for the international initiative, noted, “There are 670 million people worldwide who are blind or vision impaired—simply because they don’t have access to an eye exam and glasses.” Directed to projects in 18 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, OSG guarantees that 85 percent of all funds raised by ODs and their patients go directly to programs that give sight to those most
in need.

Optometry Giving Sight is a joint initiative of the World Optometry Foundation, the International Centre for Eyecare Education and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. National industry sponsors include CIBA Vision, the Brien Holden Vision Institute, Marchon, Vision Source and AllAboutVision.com.

ODs are invited to participate by donating their eye exam fees from one day from Sept.1 to Oct.14. Or, by becoming a regular donor on or before World Sight Day and inviting patients to make a donation during the World Sight Day Challenge. A number of optometrists, retail groups and patients have already started to commit to this year’s efforts.

 

In Chatanooga, Tenn., a three-day Summer SPECtacular event raised funds and
practice pledged to donate $5 to OSG for each frame sold during the promotion.
(L to R): Jim Price with Optometry Giving Sight, Dr. Mark Kapperman, Dr. Troy
White, Dr. Rob McGarvey.

For the first time, World Sight Day Challenge participants can also create their own personal or team fundraising Web pages, which can be shared via email or FaceBook, Twitter and other
social networks.

The World Sight Day Challenge Student Volunteer Contest, endorsed by the American Optometric Student Association, is open to all optometry students in the U.S. and Canada and is funded by VOSH
and OSG.

The winning students will travel in 2011; each will receive a $1,000 travel voucher from OSG to fund the cost of their trip. All applications and essays must be received no later than Oct. 31. Details are
at http://bit.ly/cR36Hj.

More info is also available at 1-888-OGS GIVE (1-888-647-4483) or via email at: [email protected]. World Sight Day is an initiative of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight and is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and non-government organizations with the shared goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.