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LCIF staff share their gratitude through Donate a Photo.

What started as a one-month initiative in honor of World Sight Day 2013 with Lions Clubs International Foundation’s partners at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (JJVC) turned into a six-month success story, thanks to Lions and our friends!

Through the Johnson & Johnson Donate a Photo app for smartphones, you donated 23,864 photos to Sight for Kids. Thanks to you, that many additional children will now receive Sight for Kids vision screenings!

Sight for Kids has provided much needed eye-health education and school-based vision screenings for underserved children across Asia. The program also provides referrals to professional eye care for eyeglasses and surgery. This is an important service because poor vision can often go unnoticed in children and vision problems at a young age can impede the ability to see the board in the classroom and more.

Since 2002, more than 19 million children have received vision screenings and access to professional eye care through Sight for Kids. Now, 23,864 more children will benefit from this partnership program because of your photos.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped us achieve such great results.

Sight for Kids wouldn’t be the successful program that it is today without the dedicated Lions, teachers, eye care professionals, JJVC employees and others who work to make the screenings and follow-up happen. Thank you for all of your support.

Bebe Teo, General Manager of ASEAN region countries, Asia Pacific, for JJVC hugs a smiling child who just received needed glasses from a Sight for Kids vision screening in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of JJVC

Sometimes a seemingly small gesture can make a big impact – like a simple vision screening.

On March 19, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care’s (JJVC) Asia Pacific Regional Leadership Team, Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) representatives and local dignitaries participated in a vision screening of 150 school children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The screenings and eyeglasses were made possible through Sight for Kids – a partnership program between JJVC and LCIF that has spanned more than 10 years. This year alone 2 million children in underserved areas across Asia will receive school-based vision screening and access to referral care and exams. For many students, a Sight for Kids screening and exam are their only chance to access eye care.

A child looks through her glasses for the first time, thanks to Sight for Kids. Photo courtesy of JJVC

Numerous Sight for Kids “graduates” across the Asia Pacific region have realized a life-long difference from vision correction, and in turn an improved quality of life. This is the most powerful impact of the program, as Kathy Park, Area Vice President, Asia Pacific stated in her speech following the screening.  At the event, she paid tribute to the groundbreaking work of Lions Clubs and our Sight for Kids partnership.

In Vietnam, Sight for Kids has screened 131,000 kids since 2006. Of these children, 21,500 have been referred to an eye care professional for further diagnosis and 5,400 have been provided eye glasses, thanks to Sight for Kids.

Such incredible progress for a grassroots and volunteer-based program speaks to the commitment and passion of the Lions Clubs, teachers, and eye care professionals involved. Additional speakers commended the profound corporate-community effort, including the chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Sponsorial Association for Poor Patients and the head of the Community Eye Department, Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital.

In honor of the screening and our long-time partnership, LCIF and local Lions hosted a special luncheon for all involved. LCIF thanks all our Sight for Kids program leaders and Lions clubs. This year, LCIF will be able to deliver 23,000 more screenings through the Sight for Kids partnership thanks to the  Donate A Photo efforts.

For more information on Sight for Kids, visit www.lcif.org/sfk.