Vizio Optic strives to positively affect the world we live in! As part of our mission, we strive to help children and individuals who suffer from vision disabilities in underprivileged areas of the world. We donate glasses and money to philanthropic eyecare organizations that aid medically under-served and the poor who are visually impaired and cannot afford to buy glasses which they desperately need to lead a life of independence and dignity.
Did you know:
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There are over 1.4 million visually impaired children age 0-14 years in developing countries who need eyeglasses but cannot afford them
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In India, many vision impaired children are sent to blind schools even if they have usable sight because they do not have corrective eyewear.
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About half of the visually impaired kids in institutions for the blind in Africa would be able to read normal or large print if they just had glasses.
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Over 90% of these visually impaired people live in developing countries.
Sadly, over 4 million pairs of old eyeglasses are thrown away each year in North America while a new pair of glasses in a developing country may cost as much as someone there earns in three months.
The good news is there are eyecare professionals like the team at Vizio Optic who want to help! At Vizio, we contribute by collecting our customers’ old eyeglasses and donate them to various organization who give a visually impaired child a life-changing gift - the gift of sight. To help contribute in positive ways, we collect your old eyeglasses to donate to nonprofits that work to improve eye health around the world and educate people about eliminating preventable blindness. If you have an old pair of eyeglasses that you can donate, please bring it to us.
Organizations that we support:
New Eyes for the Needy accepts donations of plastic eyeglasses and sunglasses in good condition, metal eyeglasses in any condition, and pairs of prescription lenses.
Lions Clubs in the United States also collect used eyeglasses, reading glasses, and sunglasses (prescription and nonprescription) to be cleaned, repaired, classified by prescription, and distributed to optical missions in developing countries. Items from your drive can be sent to one of the regional Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers.
VisionAid facilitates the creation of a large network of vision rehabilitation centers in under-served areas in accordance with the WHO Vision 2020 initiative.
We also donate money each year to organizations that reach out to the blind and assist those who lack necessary eye care in our local communities and around the world. If you wish to make a charitable contribution then please consider a nonprofit called Unite for Sight (www.UniteForSight.org). Your donation will help support eye care programs in 25 countries on 5 continents and a donation of even $50 can help restore sight to 1 person.
Other organizations that we support include Perkins School for the Blind (www.Perkins.org), National Braille Press (www.nbp.org), and Boston Children's Hospital (www.childrenshospital.org).