Category: News

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.

The World Sight Day Challenge has always been a community effort — but “community” in this context means something bigger than any single participant. It starts with the optometrists and optometry students who show up every fall, rallying their patients and their practices around a cause that sits at the heart of their profession. It extends outward from there to include the companies that make the lenses, build the equipment, develop the software, design the frames, and run the credit unions that keep those practices operating. For twenty years, all of them — the clinicians and the industry alike — have shown up for the Challenge together.

The range is striking. Contact lens manufacturers (CooperVision, Johnson & Johnson), the companies that make the raw materials those lenses are built from (Contamac), and lens manufacturers (Zeiss Vision Care). Custom lens labs (Art Optical). Frame designers (Europa Eyewear) and distributors (WestGroupe). Diagnostic equipment makers (Good-Lite). Practice management software companies (VisionWeb). A credit union that exists exclusively to serve optometry professionals (Vision One Credit Union). In their day-to-day operations, these organizations might appear to have little in common. But they all serve the same profession, and they all believe that profession has a responsibility to extend primary eye care to people who have never had it. That shared conviction is what has brought them to the Challenge, in the form of donations, employee fundraisers, and corporate campaigns that collectively add up to something significant. 

Dozens of companies across the optometry supply chain have contributed to the Challenge over the years, each in their own way, for their own reasons — and together they form a constituency that makes the scale of OGS’s grant program possible. If you work in this industry and haven’t yet gotten involved, there’s a place for you here.

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!

Le 28 juillet 2026

Optometry Giving Sight lance le Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue 2026 et invite la communauté des soins oculaires à amasser des fonds pour améliorer l’accès aux soins de la vue à l’échelle mondiale.

La campagne annuelle de collecte de fonds, qui s’échelonne sur deux mois, reprend le 1er septembre avec un nouveau tableau de classement, des concours bonifiés et un thème rassembleur : « Ce n’est pas seulement une question de vue. C’est tout un avenir. »

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) a annoncé aujourd’hui le lancement du Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue 2026, sa campagne annuelle de collecte de fonds.  Celle-ci rassemble des cliniques d’optométrie, des écoles d’optométrie, des partenaires de l’industrie et des sympathisants partout en Amérique du Nord et ailleurs dans le monde afin de financer des programmes durables de soins de la vue. Le Défi se déroulera du 1er septembre au 31 octobre 2026.

Cette année marque la 20e édition du Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue, l’un des événements de collecte de fonds les plus attendus de la profession optométrique. Pendant 61 jours, des cliniques et des écoles optométrie et des particuliers rivalisent pour amasser des fonds qui soutiennent directement les programmes financés par OGS. Ces programmes offrent des examens de la vue, des lunettes et de la formation en optométrie à des communautés qui n’ont jamais eu accès à des soins de la vue.

Le thème de cette année, « Ce n’est pas seulement une question de vue. C’est tout un avenir. », traduit l’impact transformateur des soins oculaires primaires sur la vie des personnes et des communautés partout dans le monde. Pour un enfant incapable de voir le tableau à l’école, un agriculteur dont le gagne-pain dépend de travaux minutieux ou une enseignante qui souhaite continuer à exercer sa profession, l’accès à un examen de la vue et à une paire de lunettes peut tout changer.

« Le Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue est l’une des expressions les plus puissantes de ce que la communauté optométrique peut accomplir lorsqu’elle unit ses forces », a déclaré Donna Mikulecky, directrice générale d’Optometry Giving Sight. Chaque année, des gens partout dans le monde lèvent la main et affirment : nous croyons que les soins de la vue devraient être accessibles à tous, et pas seulement à ceux qui ont les moyens de se les payer. Cette année, nous rendons la participation à ce Défi plus facile et plus stimulante que jamais.

Quoi de neuf en 2026

Le Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue 2026 introduit plusieurs nouveautés conçues pour stimuler la participation et l’engagement :

• Un tableau de classement en direct, mis à jour tout au long de la campagne, offrant aux participants une visibilité en temps réel sur leur position et les motivant à se surpasser.
• Des concours élargis, dont le Défi du classement, la Folie des egoportraits, le Bingo des réseaux sociaux, Etoile montante, et Recrue de l’année — avec des prix pour les meilleurs participants, tant dans la catégorie des cliniques que dans celle des écoles
• Une trousse numérique renouvelée, offrant aux cliniques et aux écoles tout ce dont elles ont besoin pour mener leur campagne, notamment des outils pour les réseaux sociaux, des modèles de courriels destinés aux patients, des affichettes de comptoir et des guides de collecte de fonds

Comment participer

La participation est ouverte aux cliniques et aux écoles d’optométrie, aux partenaires de l’industrie et aux sympathisants individuels du monde entier. L’inscription est gratuite et ne prend que quelques minutes à l’adresse givingsight.org/wsdc-registration. Les participants peuvent choisir parmi un éventail de méthodes de collecte de fonds, qu’il s’agisse de consacrer les frais d’examen d’une journée ou d’organiser un événement communautaire, avec tous les détails et les ressources offerts dans une nouvelle trousse numérique.

Les fonds doivent être soumis au plus tard le 30 novembre 2026.

À propos du Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue

Le Défi de la Journée mondiale de la vue est une campagne annuelle de collecte de fonds organisée par Optometry Giving Sight, qui coïncide avec la Journée mondiale de la vue — soulignée à l’échelle internationale le deuxième jeudi d’octobre. Le Défi permet d’amasser des fonds pour les programmes financés par OGS, lesquels forment des professionnels locaux des soins oculaires, mettent sur pied des centres de vision et des écoles d’optométrie, et offrent des examens de la vue et des lunettes aux communautés mal desservies du monde entier.

À propos d’Optometry Giving Sight

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) recueille des fonds au sein de la communauté optométrique afin de soutenir des programmes visant à mettre fin à la cécité et à la déficience visuelle évitables dans le monde. En offrant à la fois des soins oculaires immédiats et structurants, tout en bâtissant l’infrastructure durable nécessaire pour élargir l’accès aux soins à long terme, OGS permet aux communautés de s’épanouir. Au cours des 20 dernières années, le financement d’OGS a permis d’offrir des soins oculaires primaires à plus de 15 millions de personnes, de contribuer à la formation de plus de 14 000 professionnels et de mettre sur pied plus de 200 centres de vision dans plus de 70 pays.

Pour en savoir plus, visitez givingsight.org.

Personne-ressource pour les médias :

Emma Alvarez Gibson
Directrice du marketing et des communications
Optometry Giving Sight
emma.alvarezgibson@givingsight.org

July 28, 2026

Optometry Giving Sight Launches 2026 World Sight Day Challenge, Calling on Eye Care Community to Raise Funds for Global Vision Access

Annual two-month fundraising campaign returns September 1 with new leaderboard, expanded contests, and a rallying theme: “It’s not just sight. It’s an entire future.”

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) today announced the launch of the 2026 World Sight Day Challenge (WSDC), its annual fundraising campaign bringing together optometry practices, optometry schools, industry partners, and supporters across North America and beyond to raise funds for sustainable vision care programs worldwide. The Challenge runs September 1 through October 31, 2026.

Now in its 20th year, the World Sight Day Challenge is one of the optometry profession’s most anticipated fundraising events — a sixty-one day window in which practices, schools, and individuals compete to raise funds that directly support OGS-funded programs delivering eye exams, glasses, and optometry training to communities that have never had access to vision care.

This year’s campaign theme — It’s not just sight. It’s an entire future. — reflects the transformative impact of basic eye care on the lives of individuals and communities worldwide. For a child who cannot see the board at school, a farmer whose livelihood depends on close work, or a teacher who wants to stay in her classroom, access to an eye exam and a pair of glasses can change everything.

“The World Sight Day Challenge is one of the most powerful expressions of what the optometry community can accomplish when it comes together,” said OGS Executive Director Donna Mikulecky. “Every year, people around the globe raise their hands and say: We believe vision care should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford it. This year, we’re making it easier and more exciting than ever to be part of that.”

What’s New in 2026

The 2026 World Sight Day Challenge introduces several new features designed to drive participation and engagement:

• A live practice leaderboard, updated throughout the campaign, giving participants real-time visibility into standings and motivating practices to push for their personal best
• Expanded contests, including the Leaderboard Challenge, Selfie Madness, Social Media Bingo, Rising Star, and Rookie of the Year — with prizes for top performers in both practice and school categories
• A refreshed digital toolkit, providing practices and schools with everything they need to run their campaign, including social media assets, patient email templates, counter cards, and fundraising guides

How to Participate
Participation is open to optometry practices, optometry schools, industry partners, and individual supporters worldwide. Registration is free and takes minutes at givingsight.org/wsdc-registration. Participants can choose from a range of fundraising methods — from designating one day’s exam fees to running community events — with full details and resources available via a new digital toolkit.
Funds must be submitted by November 30, 2026.

About the World Sight Day Challenge
The World Sight Day Challenge is an annual fundraising campaign run by OGS, timed to coincide with World Sight Day — observed globally on the second Thursday of October. The Challenge raises funds for OGS-funded programs that train local eye care providers, establish vision centers and optometry schools, and deliver eye exams and glasses to underserved communities worldwide.

About Optometry Giving Sight
Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) raises funds from the optometric community to support programs that end preventable blindness and vision impairment worldwide. By offering immediate eye care and building the sustainable infrastructure needed to expand permanent access, OGS empowers communities to thrive. Over the last 20 years, OGS funding has provided primary eye care services to more than 15 million people, assisted in training over 14,000 professionals, and established more than 200 vision centers in over 70 countries.

For more information, visit givingsight.org.

Media Contact:
Emma Alvarez Gibson
Director of Marketing and Communications
Optometry Giving Sight
emma.alvarezgibson@givingsight.org