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Getting Glasses to Children in New York with ChildSight®
Each year, more than 2 million children in the United States have uncorrected refractive errors. To help address this need, TOMS Sight Giving Partner Helen Keller International’s ChildSight®program travels to public schools from California to New York to screen children on-site and determine their vision needs. Within a week’s time, they deliver new prescription eyeglasses to those who need them.
Before Jeremy, 11, had glasses, he had a hard time seeing the blackboard in school. He told said that he’d often squint really hard or ask one of his classmates for help in understanding what was being taught. When that didn’t work, he’d sit quietly, trying to reread the material until he was sure he could see it.
Outside of school, the issue followed him. Like other kids growing up in New York City, Jeremy likes to play baseball, read and spend time with his buddies. He’s also into watching the news.
“Unless I’m up [close], it’s usually hard for me to see,” Jeremy explained. “When I can’t read the board or see the ball, I just have to squint and keep trying. ”
Since ChildSight’s® inception in 1994, their team has screened more than 1.4 million children in the United States and provided free eyeglasses to more than 186,000 of those kids.
“In many cases, the students we see have never received an eye test before,” said Tonya Daniels, ChildSight’s® New York program manager. “The way they’re seeing the world is the way they think it’s supposed to be.”
In more than 130 schools in New York, throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, ChildSight® helps bring prescription glasses to kids in low-income neighborhoods. During Jeremy’s eye exam, he viewed a blurry eye chart. It wasn’t until he was given prescription glasses, supported by a TOMS Eyewear purchase, that he realized his surroundings were clearer and more vivid than he’d been seeing it all this time.
“That was the first time I realized how bad my eyes were,” he said. “With my new glasses, I have clearer vision, and the difference is how much better I can see [from] far away. I’m so excited.”
Through TOMS Eyewear, we’re proud to help ChildSight® provide new prescription glasses to children who need them.
Help us reach our goal of giving sight to 100,000 people, like Jeremy, this Summer of Sight! Learn more at toms.com/eyewear/summerofsight.
