News

Optometry Giving Sight’s support of See Better.Learn Better Jamaica has made a world of difference for children such as 6 year-old Justin.

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) is pleased to announce that Sarah Burtner, M.A., has joined our staff as Director of Communications.“We’re excited to welcome Sarah to our team,” said Lois Schoenbrun, executive director, OGS. “She brings a wealth of experience in communications, marketing and public relations to the organization, and has served in the non-profit sector as a volunteer, Board Member and senior staff member.”

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) announces the addition of Daniel McBride, executive vice president and chief operating officer of CooperCompanies, and Meng Meng Xu, OD, MPH, FAAO, to its board of directors.

With only a few weeks remaining, Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has announced a $500,000 fundraising goal for its 2023 World Sight Day Challenge. Donations will fuel the organization’s efforts to help eradicate uncorrected refractive error through the growth and expansion of optometry around the world. As thousands of eye care professionals convene in New Orleans for Academy 2023 and observe World Sight Day, OGS calls upon the optometry community to help achieve this goal.

Blessings lives in the community of Matero, a township in the city of Lusaka in Zambia. Matero is home to nearly 60,000 people living in impoverished conditions. There, students like Blessings lack access to basic eye care services they need.

Imagine a population of 11 million people—and only seven optometrists. This ratio is a reality in Haiti, a country that has faced significant, continuous hardships including political instability, a poor economy, natural disasters, the COVID pandemic, and more. In 2017, Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) partnered with Université d’Etat d’Haiti, Université de Montréal, VOSH/International, Charity Vision, and the Brien Holden Foundation to establish the Haiti School of Optometry. The partners set out to increase the number of locally trained optometrists and to establish an Academic Vision Centre to provide hands-on optometric training and care.

For seven consecutive years, WestGroupe and Carl Zeiss Vision Canada have donated a portion of the proceeds raised from its ValuePak frame and lens package—which includes Superflex® frames and synchrony® lenses—and now their Lenz Pak packages—to Optometry Giving Sight (OGS). Through this ongoing promotion, the companies have raised more than $234,000 to date in cumulative funds for OGS, the only organization dedicated to eradicating uncorrected refractive error through the growth and expansion of optometry around the world.

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Dr. Yu to our board of directors. Her years of experience in optometry—in practice, administration, governance, and leadership—will be an enormous asset as she brings valuable insight to the benefit of OGS and our partners,” said Lois Schoenbrun, executive director, OGS.

As eye care professionals, we know the power of optometry. Every day, we see the effect vision correction has on the lives of our patients. Beyond our exam rooms – in some of the most underserved areas of the world – the most basic eye care keeps kids in school, people at work, and can even bring communities out of poverty.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Nikki Earich as our Development Director, North America. In her new role, Earich is responsible for developing and managing the organization’s fundraising initiatives, while building and strengthening partnerships with optometric practices, eye care professionals, and other key industry stakeholders.

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has selected FluoreSCENE Media as its official social media partner to help expand the organization’s reach with eye care professionals as the charity of choice for the ODs on Facebook Community.

2022 Year in Review – Your Support Made a Difference! These projects were supported in 2022:

VuePoint IDS will provide more than $100,000 of in-kind advertising to OGS in 2023 alone, across all of its Optik print and digital publications, as well as its Clinical & Refractive Optometry online continuing education platform, enabling OGS to reach an audience it may not have had easy access to before.

At her primary school in Cienega de Zimatlan, Mexico, Yamilet Castellanos struggled to see her books and the whiteboard at the front of the class. Both her parents suspected Yami, as her parents call her, had an eye problem but were unable to access vision care services due to their extremely limited resources.

Donations to Optometry Giving Sight make an impact by giving sight to people in need through the projects we fund. One of our funding priorities is to train local people as optometrists in the communities in which they live, all over the world. One of the most successful optometry schools we fund is in Mzuzu, Malawi. 

Donations to Optometry Giving Sight make an impact by giving sight to people in need through the projects we fund. One of the projects we support established the Pediatric Refractive Error Training Center (PRETC) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Dr. Minh Anh Tran, an optometrist, educator and supervisor at PRETC, tells the story of how a young boy’s life changed because of this support.

This monthly newsletter will provide you with a snapshot of a donor/practice and a grantee. It is important that you feel the impact of your dollars. We are unable to reach the thousands we help serve each year and provide, on a sustainable basis, the gift of sight to underserved individuals and communities around the world without you.

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) is pleased to announce that Lois Schoenbrun, CAE (Ret.), FAAO, has been appointed Interim Executive Director, effective April 11, 2022.

Welcome to FourSight, Optometry Giving Sight’s newly designed quarterly newsletter. Inside you will read about all the work we have been doing and will see firsthand the collective impact you have made on the projects we support that provide the gift of sight and hope!

We are delighted to share with you our quarterly Fall 2021 Newsletter. Here our supporters will get news on recent OGS developments as we move forward in helping to bring accessible and sustainable eye care to those in need. Thank you for your support!

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) is pleased to announce that for 2021 it has awarded over $800,000 in grant funding for eye care projects around the world for communities in need.

We are delighted to share with you our quarterly Fall 2021 Newsletter. Here our supporters will get news on recent OGS developments as we move forward in helping to bring accessible and sustainable eye care to those in need. Thank you for your support!

Your donations to Optometry Giving Sight helped fund Canadian Vision Care’s support for eye care in Manila, Philippines. Their partnership with the SPECS Eye Train Clinic provides eye care out of two creatively converted railway cars.

Eyes On Dry Eye, held April 23-24, 2021, was pleased to choose Optometry Giving Sight as the charity of choice for the event. The charity was spotlighted in the Virtual Conference Bag, and attendees were invited to click a button for which Eyes On Dry Eye would donate $1 in their name.

Optometry Giving Sight is pleased to announce that it has formed a new board of directors. The fund-raising organization operates in Canada and in the United States, with two separate boards, with the same directors for both.

The U.S. Board is chaired by Dr. Juan Carlos Aragón, who has been active with Optometry Giving Sight as a board and committee member for over 10 years. The Canadian Board is chaired by Dr. Susan Cooper, also involved with OGS over the past decade.

We are delighted to share with you our quarterly Winter Spring 2021 Newsletter. Here our supporters will get news on recent OGS developments as we move forward in helping to bring accessible and sustainable eye care to those in need. We hope to put the significant challenges of 2020 behind us and are grateful to those who were able to continue their support of OGS despite the circumstances. Thank you for your support!

In an effort to support North American organizations and to further enhance our national presence, Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) awarded 12 organizations with grants up to $5,000.

Optometry Giving Sight’s support of Ver Bien in Mexico has helped many school children receive the eye care they desperately need. Approximately 12% of public school children in Mexico suffer from a refractive error which can be corrected with glasses. Many of these...

In response to COVID-19 and in solidarity with the recent protests against racism, Optometry Giving Sight is making available a COVID-19 Relief Fund for fellow eye care nonprofits/charities that provide services within the United States and Canada.

The Brien Holden Foundation has led the development of the optometry program at Makerere University in Uganda. The creation of skilled optometrists will in time increase the efficiency of eye care services in Uganda and improve the health system’s cost-effectiveness.

Beginning in 2016, WestGroupe and Carl Zeiss Vision Canada pledged to make a donation to Optometry Giving Sight for each of their new ValuePak Frame and Lens packages sold. ValuePak packages include Superflex® Frames with synchrony® Lenses from Carl Zeiss Vision which...

Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor has been working in Mexican public schools for more than 21 years, doing screening for refractive errors and delivering eyeglasses to those children who need them. Optometry Giving Sight has been supporting their work for several years and...

Optometry Giving Sight is very pleased to again be supporting the Vision Impact Institute’s Kids See: Successs program for 2020. This initiative was first launched and supported by Optometry Giving Sight in 2016 to fight for mandatory comprehensive eye exams for...