Author: Corinne Waldon

Eleven years. That’s how long Dr. Doris Wong and her team at San Ramon Family Optometry have shown up for the World Sight Day Challenge — and they’re not slowing down.

A perennial top donor to the Challenge, Dr. Wong has built a participation strategy that gets more effective every year: a raffle prize that gives patients a reason to give generously, paired with a practice-level donation for every complete pair of glasses sold. It’s simple, scalable, and proven.

This year’s raffle prize? Two tickets to the 49ers vs. Raiders game. We think it’s safe to say the waiting room conversation is going to be lively!

“Our strategy for the Challenge is having a great raffle prize for our patients,” says Dr. Wong. “The more they donate, the more chances of winning. All proceeds are donated directly to the World Sight Day Challenge. Also, our office will make a donation for each pair of complete glasses sold. This strategy has helped us beat our contribution amount year after year.”

For Dr. Wong, the motivation behind it all is straightforward: “There is nothing more precious than the gift of sight, and we play a big role in improving a patient’s quality of life through their vision.”

Eleven years of showing up! Here’s to many more. Thank you, Dr. Wong.

For Dr. Echharam and the team at North Toronto Vision Care, the World Sight Day Challenge isn’t just an annual fundraising event; it’s an annual reminder of why they do what they do.

“Year after year, our practice looks forward to taking part,” says Dr. Echharam. “It’s an opportunity to remind ourselves that our work goes beyond serving our patients—we are also part of a global community working toward a greater purpose.”

That sense of purpose shows up in how they run their campaign. North Toronto Vision Care hosts a fundraising raffle—every eligible donation earns a ticket to win a prize basket—and backs it up with an email blast and social media push to spread the word. They’ve even sold used books for $5 each, turning a simple idea into another avenue for giving.

It’s a model that’s approachable, community-minded, and entirely on-brand for a practice that clearly understands what the Challenge is really about.

“Knowing that our efforts help support individuals in gaining access to eye care and raise awareness about the importance of vision is incredibly meaningful to us,” Dr. Echharam adds. “This year, we’re proud to once again come together as a team, contribute to this global movement, and help give the gift of sight.”

Thank you, North Toronto Vision Care! The global community is better for having you in it.

Donations in Action

Each year, donations to Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) enable us to fund projects globally that provide immediate eyecare to those in need today, and expand optometry so vision care is available for years to come.

FUELING A MOVEMENT

Every dollar raised during the World Sight Day Challenge goes to work for the mission. OGS is a lean, efficient organization, which means that funds raised support everything that makes the work possible — from the grants that reach patients on the ground, to the infrastructure that ensures those grants are awarded wisely and managed well. When you give to the Challenge, you’re doing much more than funding a line item. You’re fueling a movement that turns resources into real-world impact.

That work takes many forms. Some grants build the infrastructure that makes long-term care possible — optometry schools, mobile clinics, vision centers in communities where none existed before. Others train the practitioners who will still be serving those communities long after a single grant cycle ends. Still others go directly to patients: comprehensive eye exams, prescription glasses, and the kind of immediate intervention that changes a life on the spot. What they share is a commitment to sustainability—to leaving something behind that lasts.

This fall, as practices across North America fundraise, compete, and give, every contribution is adding to that pool. A silent auction in Toronto. A bake sale in Kansas City. A single patient rounding up at checkout in Los Angeles. It all becomes something real, in a community somewhere in the world that is waiting for exactly this. That’s what the World Sight Day Challenge is for. And that’s what your participation makes possible.

In addition to helping people in developing areas around the world, we also recognize and address needs right here in North America:

Montréal, Canada: Université de Montréal École d’optométrie

In a long-term care centre on the outskirts of Montréal, elderly residents with limited mobility and limited access to specialists are getting something they’ve long gone without: comprehensive eye care, right where they live.

Dr. Benoit Tousignant and his colleagues at the Université de Montréal’s École d’optométrie are equipping a mobile optometry teaching clinic at the Pavillon Alfred-Desrochers. Optometry graduates perform full eye exams and provide optical services on-site, under clinical supervision — developing their geriatric care skills while serving a community that would otherwise have to go without.

It’s a model that serves two purposes at once: care delivered today, and the expertise to deliver it tomorrow. And it ensures that an all-too-often-overlooked population is seen and can see.

Oregon, USA: Envision EyeCare for All

In rural Oregon, the barriers to primary eye care are geographic, systemic, and deeply entrenched. Envision EyeCare for All is working to dismantle them on every front simultaneously.

Through their Eyes on Equity project, Envision is delivering comprehensive eye exams and prescription glasses to underserved, rural, and transient populations via a dedicated mobile vision vehicle — while simultaneously advocating for the integration of optometry into Oregon’s broader healthcare infrastructure. In the current project period, that included meetings with four state senators, collaboration with the Oregon Optometric Physicians Association, and statewide recognition through Oregon Health Forward.

The work has also led to Dr. Rebecca Chown’s appointment to the American Optometric Association’s Pediatric Eye Health and Vision Access Committee and a gubernatorial appointment to Oregon’s Rural Health Coordinating Council — positions from which she is now helping shape pediatric vision priorities across the state. This is what sustained investment looks like. It’s care delivered today, along with a system rebuilt to deliver it long after the grant period ends.

Your support made all of this possible. The World Sight Day Challenge is the engine behind so much of our work. Thank you for keeping it running.

Conexiant Vision has been a cornerstone of the optometry and ophthalmology media landscape for decades. Formerly known as Pentavision, Conexiant develops customized solutions and programs that speak directly to the needs of brands looking to reach optometrists and ophthalmologists — through digital advertising, content creation, lead generation, owned events, and a portfolio of trusted industry publications including Contact Lens Spectrum, Eyecare Business, and Optometric Management.

As a Gold-level partner of Optometry Giving Sight, Conexiant Vision brings more than reach. They bring a deep understanding of the community at the heart of this mission.

Doug Mersten, Director of Business Development for Optometry, puts it this way:

“At Conexiant Vision, we’re proud to support the mission of Optometry Giving Sight. The optometry community we serve every day is one that genuinely cares about people — and OGS is proof of that. Knowing that our partnership helps connect that community to meaningful global impact makes this one of the most rewarding relationships we have.”

We’re grateful to have Conexiant in our corner! To learn more about their vision solutions, visit conexiant.com/vision-solutions.

Donations in Action

Each year, donations to Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) enable us to fund projects globally that provide immediate eyecare to those in need today, and expand optometry so vision care is available for years to come.

Showing Up, No Matter What

Some of the most important work that OGS funds doesn’t make headlines. It just keeps going, through hurricanes, across island chains, one child’s eye exam at a time. This month, two grantees remind us what that kind of commitment looks like on the ground.

See Better. Learn Better. Jamaica

In November 2025, See Better. Learn Better. Jamaica was two weeks away from their annual school clinic when Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm — its eye passing directly through the communities they serve in Negril. The clinics couldn’t happen. The schools were devastated.

But the program adapted. By March 2026, the team had restructured their clinical model to serve all 17 of their partner schools in a single intensive trip — plus one new school, Lucea Primary, a large school of 650 children. In four days, they performed over 2,200 vision screenings and 600 comprehensive eye examinations.

The March trip was also their largest training effort yet. Six University of West Indies optometry students and two recent graduates from Trinidad participated alongside 12 American optometry students and two residents — a significant step toward the program’s long-term goal of local Caribbean ownership. Each UWI student screened approximately 120 children and performed 30 comprehensive eye exams under experienced supervision. What the team learned will shape how they train future cohorts: these students graduate having seen roughly 200 patients, compared to the 2,000 typical for US-trained optometrists. See Better. Learn Better.’s high-volume, refractive-focused model is well suited to close that gap.

Six CooperVision employees also participated — marking the company’s third trip with the program — contributing in clinic flow, logistics, and optician support.

At the center of it all is a child named Othniel. Now in 5th grade, Othniel has been a patient of the program since 1st grade at Negril Primary School. Each year, the team updates his prescription as his myopia progresses. Each year, he comes back knowing the doctors by name — asking for “DP” (Dr. Paula) the moment he arrives, and presenting her with a drawing of dragons to add to the collection she keeps framed in her Ohio office. He is, in miniature, everything the program is for.

Berkeley Vision Pakistan: Every Child Sees

In District Jamshoro, Sindh, the Every Child Sees: One School at a Time program is doing exactly what its name promises — bringing vision screening directly into schools in one of Pakistan’s most underserved regions. Implemented by CBM Pakistan in coordination with the Sindh Institute of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences (SIOVS), with programmatic support from Berkeley Vision and OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation and funding from OGS, the program aims to screen 25,000 children over 12 months and provide free glasses to those who need them.

One of those children is Asad.

Asad, 13, failed his initial vision screening and was referred for a comprehensive exam. His ability to engage in class was limited due to distance vision impairment. With the correct prescription, his vision also reached 6/6. He can now see the board, participate actively, and return to his studies with the kind of confidence that had slipped away from him.

The program also reached beyond the school gates — conducting community awareness sessions in surrounding villages, where families learned about the importance of early vision screening for children and the persistent barriers — stigma, distance, cost, and simple lack of awareness — that keep so many from ever receiving it.

What connects these two projects is not geography or method but a shared understanding of what it actually takes to change the trajectory of vision care in a community: you show up consistently, you train the people who will be there after you leave, and you build the kind of trust that means a child will walk into a makeshift exam room even when they areshe’s frightened. Thanks to our generous supporters, that is the work that OGS funds. We are grateful.

Dr. Angelica Villa has been helping OGS to give sight since 2009. A Vision Source doctor based in Chula Vista, she has supported the World Sight Day Challenge and recently joined TEAM OGS, deepening a commitment that was already nearly two decades in the making.

For Dr. Villa, the case for giving is straightforward:

“As an optometrist, I know how easily we take clear vision for granted. In many parts of the world, people who simply need glasses remain functionally blind because there are no eye doctors or access to care. That’s why Optometry Giving Sight is my favorite charity. A relatively small donation can completely change someone’s life today, while also helping train local optometrists and build sustainable eye care for tomorrow. That’s an investment with an incredible return.”

That kind of clarity — about the problem, and about the solution — is exactly what keeps this community moving forward. Thank you, Dr. Villa!

Partners in Sight:

Two of the optical industry’s most respected names have found common ground in a shared conviction: that access to quality vision care has the power to transform lives. As Silver-level partners of Optometry Giving Sight, WestGroupe and ZEISS Vision Care bring that conviction to life in one of the most tangible ways possible: through the LenZ-Pak Frame & Lens program, which donates a portion of every package sold to OGS. To date, that commitment has generated more than $410,000 in contributions, making it one of the most impactful giving models in OGS’s partner community.

WestGroupe

Established in 1961, WestGroupe has spent more than six decades as a family-operated company with a single animating purpose: to provide exceptional eyewear for the fashion-focused consumer. With a portfolio of globally recognized proprietary brands — including KLiiK denmark, FYSH, EVATIK, Superflex®, and OTP, as well as the North American distribution of leading international brands such as AllSaints and NanoVista — WestGroupe has built its reputation on quality, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to the success of its customers. Today, that commitment extends beyond the optical industry.

“At WestGroupe, we’ve always believed that what we do matters beyond the product we sell,” says WestGroupe President Michael Suliteanu. “Partnering with Optometry Giving Sight through the LenZ-Pak program is our way of ensuring that every frame and lens package we put into an optometrist’s hands does something more; it helps bring vision care to people who have never had access to it. We’re proud to stand behind that mission.”

ZEISS Vision Care

ZEISS Vision Care has built its reputation on a straightforward belief: that better vision care, delivered with greater precision and deeper understanding, changes lives. From leading-edge lens technologies and connected practice workflows to patient education tools and a sustained focus on myopia management, ZEISS supports eye care professionals in delivering care that is more personalized, more informed, and more future-ready. Their newest innovation, ZEISS ClearMind, reflects that commitment in practice. ZEISS also participates in the World Sight Day Challenge each fall, joining the broader optometry community in raising funds for sustainable vision care programs worldwide.

“ZEISS is proud to partner with Optometry Giving Sight because we believe access to quality vision care has the power to transform lives,” says Bryan Rossi, president of ZEISS Canada. “As a company built on innovation and a deep commitment to advancing eye care, we see this partnership as a meaningful way to support communities, strengthen the profession, and help create a future where more people can benefit from the vision care they need.”

We are grateful to WestGroupe and ZEISS Vision Care for their partnership, their generosity, and the values they bring to both!

For more information about LenZ-Pak Frame & Lens packages, contact your WestGroupe or Carl Zeiss Vision representative or call 1-800-268-6489.

Twelve Practices, One Mission

Dr. Wes McCann has spent his career proving that clinical excellence and community impact not only go hand in hand: they’re the same thing, pursued from different angles.

As the owner of Doctors Vision Group, Dr. McCann leads a network of twelve practices across Southwestern Ontario, bringing comprehensive eye care to communities throughout the region. His professional credentials are formidable: three Honours Bachelor of Science degrees, an accelerated MBA, and a Doctorate of Optometry from Western University and Nova Southeastern University. He has lectured at hundreds of conferences on topics spanning contact lenses, dry eye disease, ocular disease, and myopia management, and serves as a key opinion leader and consultant for some of the most respected names in the industry, including Johnson & Johnson, Bausch & Lomb, Zeiss, and Nikon, among others.

But it’s what he sees in his clinics every day that drives his support of OGS.

Doctors Vision Group supports Optometry Giving Sight through our TEAM OGS program by donating a portion of every pair of glasses sold. Through the Pick-a-Pair initiative, each purchase helps fund sustainable vision care around the world—allowing patients here the opportunity to help give the gift of sight to someone in need.

“Every day in our clinics, we see how profoundly vision impacts a person’s confidence, independence, and quality of life,” says Dr. McCann. “Supporting Optometry Giving Sight is important to Doctors Vision Group because it allows us to help bring that same life-changing gift of sight to people who may not otherwise have access to eye care.”

It’s a conviction that runs through everything Doctors Vision Group does — from the care delivered across their Ontario locations to the profession-wide leadership Dr. McCann has demonstrated through his board roles with the Ontario Association of Optometrists, Eye Recommend, and the College of Optometrists of Ontario.

We are grateful to Dr. McCann and the entire Doctors Vision Group team for their support of OGS and for the standard of care they bring to every patient they serve.

Donations in Action

Grantees: World Council of Optometry and Queens University Belfast

Each year, donations to Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) enable us to fund projects globally that provide immediate eyecare to those in need today, and expand optometry so vision care is available for years to come.

Advocacy and Government Integration

Sustainable vision care requires two things working in parallel: the systems that make eye care accessible, and the people with the skills and conviction to build and defend those systems. This month, two OGS-funded projects illustrate exactly that — one laying the groundwork for a national eye health plan in Zanzibar, the other training the next generation of optometry advocates across six continents.

Zanzibar: A Plan Before the Programs

Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the Vision Care Foundation and the Ministry of Health Zanzibar, is doing the foundational work required before clinics can open and glasses can be dispensed. Their OGS-funded project is developing Zanzibar’s first National Eye Health Strategic Plan, a roadmap for sustainably integrating optometry and low vision services into the country’s health system.

The team reports completion of a comprehensive situational analysis engaging 123 stakeholders across government, communities, NGOs, patients, and eye care providers at every level of the health system. A plan built on 123 perspectives carries far more legitimacy and staying power than one developed without community input. A high-level roundtable with Zanzibar’s Principal Secretary and senior Ministry representatives followed, generating the kind of government ownership that turns ideas and documents into a policy.

The work wasn’t without obstacles. Unanticipated ethics-approval requirements, rising fuel costs, and the logistical realities of working across both Unguja and the more remote Pemba Island all required adaptation. In response, the team expanded their stakeholder reach, introducing real-time digital data collection, and secured supplementary funding to absorb increased costs—ultimately producing a stronger evidence base and deeper stakeholder buy-in than originally planned.

While the National Eye Health Strategic Plan for Zanzibar is still in development, the people invested in it across sectors are engaged, and the foundation it will be built on is solid.

WCO OPAL: Training the Advocates the Profession Needs

The World Council of Optometry’s OPAL program, also supported by OGS, is building the team who will lead the charge for systems like the one taking shape in Zanzibar.

Now in its fifth year, the Optometry Program for Advocacy and Leadership trained 33 optometrists from 31 countries last year, representing all six WCO geographic regions. An additional 19 participants completed OPAL Advanced Practice in Advocacy, a pilot program designed for graduates ready to take their advocacy work to the next level. Completion rates across both programs exceeded 90%, and the post-course surveys tell a consistent story. Every respondent said they would recommend OPAL to their colleagues, and reported confidence in their ability to engage in advocacy beyond the program. The impact is real.

The impact is also felt in Malawi, where a 2023 OPAL graduate is providing eye exams and glasses to girls and women, 350 pairs distributed in 2025 alone, while building a broader network of care for women facing additional vulnerabilities. Likewise in Malaysia, where a 2022 graduate influenced the Minister of Health to publish new primary eye care service guidelines for private optometrists, giving the profession formal recognition as frontline providers.

Together, these two projects reflect one of OGS’s core beliefs about impact. The glasses and the exams matter deeply. Equally crucial are the plans that guide where those services reach, and the advocates who make sure they keep reaching further. Projects like these are exactly why we do what we do, and we are honored to partner with such outstanding organizations.