October 9, 2017

The Houston Health Foundation welcomed Optometry Giving Sight today as a new partner in the See to Succeed children’s vision safety net program. Optometry Giving Sight, an organization devoted to mobilizing support for avoidable blindness and vision impairment worldwide, donated $15,800 to support Houston school-aged children, many of whom were impacted by Hurricane Harvey flooding.

TThe Houston Health Foundation supports the Houston Health Department’s See to Succeed program, which provides free eye exams and glasses each year to more than 11,000 children enrolled in Houston-area school districts with support from community partners.

See to Succeed organizes a series of week-long vision clinics each school year. The clinics provide vision screening, full optometry exams and frame selection and fitting for a pair of new, high-quality glasses for children lacking access to optometry services.

"Like so many others, Optometry Giving Sight wanted to find a way to provide support to the people of Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, especially in relation to vision care and our global commitment to Our Children’s Vision," said Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight. "We are delighted to be entering into this partnership with the See to Succeed program, as it clearly has an excellent track record in providing eye care to children in the Houston area, and especially those that might otherwise fall through the cracks and not gain access to the vision care they need."

Optometry Giving Sight’s donation is generously supporting optometry, optical and education services for the October 23-27, 2017 See to Succeed Children’s vison clinic.

Optometry Giving Sight joins a notable list of See to Succeed partners including the University of Houston College of Optometry, the San Jacinto College Eye Technology Program, Berkeley Eye Center, the Essilor Vision Foundation, Walmart and Onesight. Numerous organizations also contribute thousands of volunteer hours each year. The program has provided more than 48,000 glasses to Houston-area school children since 2012. Most recently the program’s partners provided immediate relief to flood evacuees staying in the George R Brown and NRG shelters.

Each year, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 school-aged children have unresolved vision impairment in the Houston area.

Optometry Giving Sight is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error (URE)—simply the need for an eye examination and glasses. It was established in 2003 by the Brien Holden Vision Institute, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the World Council of Optometry, as a means of mobilizing support from the global vision care profession and industry to help eliminate the backlog of people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired – currently estimated at more than 600 million worldwide. It is a registered charity in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

About Houston Health Foundation?

The Houston Health Foundation(HHF) is the non-profit 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Houston Health Department. HHF works with donors, organizations and volunteers to forge public-private partnerships that bring valuable health services to the children and families of Houston's most under-served communities. The Foundation’s See to Succeed program is a community collaborative committed to removing barriers to learning and success through the resolution of vision impairment for all school-aged children throughout the Houston area. For more information about See to Succeed and other HHF programs, please visit www.houstonhealthfoundation.org.