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Latest News about Restoring Vision

 

Chen, J. (2017) Case study v Felicien. In Clearly. Biteback Publishing Ltd.

“I could suddenly see clearly, without struggling. … At that moment, I was happy; it made me happy and gave me hope that my life would continue.”

Poor vision is one of the biggest unaddressed global health problems that recently has been gaining more and more attention. The extraordinary book Clearly by businessman and philanthropist James Chen addresses this health crisis through the personal stories of individuals affected by vision loss. 

The story of Felicien is particularly special to RestoringVision since it is about near vision impairment. Felicien is a father of seven children living in Kigali, Rwanda, who feared his deteriorating eyesight would cause him to lose his job. Thanks to the work of Vision For A Nation, Felicien learned that he just needed a simple pair of reading glasses to restore his vision and remain a productive member of his family and community.

According to Chen (2017), “Felicien’s situation is one faced by many people around the globe: If you cannot see, you cannot work or learn effectively, perhaps at all. Visual impairment is a major barrier to securing and keeping paid employment, and thus shackles the potential of individuals like Felicien and perpetuates the cycle of poverty in many nations.” 

Through our network of non-profit partners, corporate sponsors, individual donors, and supporters, RestoringVision is proud to impact the lives of people like Felicien by providing new, high-quality reading glasses to people living in impoverished communities around the world. Our vision is a world where every person who needs glasses has them, and through the increased recognition of our cause, we believe we can make that vision a reality.

Read Felicien’s full story on the slideshow above. Thank you to James Chen and Vision For A Nation for allowing us to share this impactful case study. To learn more about James Chen’s book Clearly, please click here.

Dear Partners and Friends, 

I’m humbled and extremely pleased to see RestoringVision celebrate 15 years of service to people in need. Since our inception in 2003, we have helped over 12 million people in 135 countries to see clearly and be more productive. I’m not surprised we made it to 15 years, but the scale of the impact we have had is amazing! 

The work of our partners in the field and our dedicated staff members, along with the generous contributions from our donors and sponsors, have helped us reach this milestone. We are grateful that both new and long-time partners, sponsors, and donors have committed to transforming lives with us. 

I will never cease to be excited about the progress of RestoringVision. We are now entering a chapter where new people can build on what’s come before to make our impact even larger. I can’t wait to see what comes next!  

Best regards, 

Mark Sachs, Founder, RestoringVision

RestoringVision Celebrates 15 Years of Transforming the Lives of People in Need Through the Gift of Sight 

SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA: RestoringVision, an optical 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing new reading glasses to people in need around the world, celebrates its 15-year anniversary on October 2. Through their extensive network of non-profit partners, corporate sponsors, individual donors and supporters, RestoringVision has brought the gift of sight to over 12 million people living in impoverished communities in 135 countries.  

The organization was founded by Mark Sachs, a former Marketing Director in the optical industry, in 2003. Mark was inspired to start RestoringVision after a life changing trip to Mexico, where he saw the need for reading glasses first hand. Mark stated, “I’m humbled and extremely pleased to see RestoringVision celebrate 15 years of service to people in developing countries. The work of our partners in the field and our dedicated team members, along with the generous contributions from our donors and sponsors, have helped us reach this milestone. I’m not surprised we made it to 15 years, but the scale of the impact we have had is amazing!” 

As RestoringVision celebrates its past, it also looks to the future. The organization has set a goal to help 20 million see clearly by the end of 2020. “As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, we also look towards a bright future for RestoringVision,” said Pelin Munis, Executive Director. “We are thrilled that our cause to bring clear vision to people living in impoverished communities is gaining much needed attention and traction. Every day, more and more optical industry companies, colleagues, and individual supporters are stepping forward to help make this happen. I’m confident that together we will reach our goal and help many more millions of people in need.” 

The lack of access to available, affordable reading glasses in developing countries is one of the biggest global health problems, affecting over 500 million people around the world. After 15 years of giving the gift of sight, RestoringVision is committed more than ever to its mission of empowering lives by restoring vision for millions in need. To see a video of their impact, click here.  

To learn more about RestoringVision or to get involved, please click here, or contact them at info@restoringvision.org. 

Media contact: Grecia Greco, grecia@restoringvision.org

Dear Partners and Friends,

Together we’re making great strides in improving vision care for the world’s most impoverished. Our common cause, the global problem of vision impairment, is continuing to gain awareness. In this newsletter, we highlight a new study that demonstrates the impact that reading glasses have on the lives of tea pickers in India. This study shows just how impactful is the work that you, our partners, sponsors, and donors, do every day.

As we forge forward together, we also want to look back to see how far we’ve come. We do this as we celebrate our 15 year anniversary with you! This October 2 marks 15 extraordinary years of working with you and providing glasses to over 10 million people in need. We couldn’t have achieved this without your support. To celebrate this and World Sight Day (Oct. 11), we’re kicking off a month-long fundraising campaign with GlobalGiving. We’ll also have exciting opportunities for our partners taking glasses to the field. To learn more, please read below and stay tuned.

Best wishes,
Mark Sachs, Founder, RestoringVision

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NEWS AND UPDATES

Groundbreaking Study Shows Impact of Reading Glasses

PROSPER, a recent health intervention study, found that providing tea pickers in India with reading glasses increased their productivity by up to 32%. Increased productivity directly correlates to higher wages for the workers. This finding speaks to the meaningful impact that reading glasses have on a person’s life. To learn more about this study, please click here.

 

 

 

 

Help Us Raise $7,500 With Global Giving!

We’re excited to announce that RestoringVision has been chosen for GlobalGiving’s Accelerator program! Our first challenge is to raise $7,500 from 40 donors within three weeks. Thereafter, we will be permanently featured on GlobalGiving’s website and become eligible for additional fundraising support. With your help, we can meet this challenge and get one step closer to helping 20 million people see clearly by 2020! The challenge begins September 10 and continues through October 2 (our 15 year anniversary!).

Please help us reach our goal by donating today!

 

 

 

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To read the full version of our newsletter, please click here.

According to new research, providing glasses to workers can increase their productivity by nearly 32%. The study, called Productivity Study of Presbyopia Elimination in Rural-dwellers, or PROSPER, was conducted with tea pickers living in India over the course of eleven weeks. All participants were diagnosed with farsightedness, or “unaided near visual acuity,” a condition that can be corrected with a simple pair of reading glasses. Researchers then provided half of the participants with a free pair of glasses and compared their productivity with the workers who did not receive them.

The results of the study showed that workers who were given glasses were able to collect over 5 kilos more tea than their peers who struggled with impaired vision and didn’t receive a pair of glasses. These results are extremely significant given the way the industry works – collecting more tea means a higher wage for the worker. The glasses not only boosted productivity and improved business, but also helped benefit the tea pickers themselves, their families, and communities.

The study states, “Delivery of glasses to older workers could be a scalable and sustainable strategy for poverty alleviation. Age-related decline in unaided near vision is essentially universal, so the pool of potential beneficiaries is large.”

Reading glasses are affordable and easy to transport to developing countries. The simplicity of this distribution model drives immediate and wildly disproportionate positive results.

Since 2003, RestoringVision has helped more than 10 million people see clearly in over 127 countries. We are striving to help 20 million people by 2020 and are proud to be a part of the solution to this global health problem with severe socioeconomic impacts.

Thank you to VisionSpring, Clearly, Orbis, and Queen’s University Belfast for conducting this important research. To learn more about PROSPER, take a look at the full research study here.

Dear Partners and Friends,

Over the past 15 years, RestoringVision has been able to bring clear vision to more than 10 million people in impoverished communities across the world. As you know, this requires an all-hands-on-deck approach. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without you, our partners, who take glasses to the field and distribute them to people in need, and our sponsors and donors, who accelerate this work. To all of you, thank you!

We’ve also been working closely with optical organizations, advocacy groups, and thought-leaders to raise awareness and develop collaborations that open up access to vision care for the world’s most disenfranchised. We are thrilled that our common cause is now gaining much-needed attention and momentum and would like to share this with you. Below are some exciting updates, including recent media coverage and one of the most exciting initiatives in vision health.

At RestoringVision, we’re excited to be a part of this growing global movement with you in an effort to transform the lives of people with near vision impairment. Thanks again for all you do to support this mission!

Best wishes,
Mark Sachs, Founder, RestoringVision

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NEWS AND UPDATES

A Simple Way to Improve a Billion Lives: Eyeglasses 

This year in May, The New York Times published an article about the global need for eyeglasses on the front page of the Sunday edition. The article described the incredible impact that vision correction can have on the lives of people in need. To read the article, click here.

 

 

 

Groundbreaking New Initiative – Vision for the Commonwealth

This April in London, The Queens’ Diamond Jubilee Trust launched the $1 billion Vision Catalyst Fund which aims to help governments prioritize vision and address avoidable blindness and poor eyesight. The fund will focus on expanding universal eye health services led by governments, providing a sustainable long-term solution for vision across many countries.

 

 

 

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To read the full version of our newsletter, please click here.

“It’s the biggest health crisis you’ve never heard of. Doctors, philanthropists and companies are trying to solve it.”

We are thrilled to share that The New York Times published an article about the global need for eyeglasses on the front page of the Sunday edition issued on May 6, 2018. 

RestoringVision is proud to be part of the solution, and we’re grateful to all of our partners, sponsors, and donors for supporting us in our mission to help people in need see and live better. We hope that as more people and organizations learn about this problem, more will get involved and help.

To read The New York Times article, click here. 

MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER

Dear Partners and Friends,

Spring has sprung and many of you are making plans for your summer mission trips. We are grateful to you for adding glasses to the work you do.

Thanks to our community of partners, we have gathered tips to help make your mission trips more successful. Those are covered in this newsletter. We hope they are useful. We are always interested in other ideas for improving our impact and reach. Please keep your feedback coming!

We are still celebrating the afterglow of our mutual achievement of helping 10 million people since we started. And we have renewed our commitment to help 20 million people by 2020. Of course, we can’t do it without you.

Thank you again for your commitment to helping improve so many lives around the world.

Best wishes,
Mark Sachs, Founder, RestoringVision

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To see the complete newsletter, click here.

MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER

Dear Partners and Friends,

I’m thrilled to announce that last month we passed 10 million people helped since we began in 2003. That’s a major milestone in our “moon shot” goal of helping 20 million people by the end of 2020. Of course, we couldn’t have done it without you—our partners, sponsors, and donors. It’s amazing the impact that we have had together. Thank you!

With this achievement and as we look to the future, we felt that it was time to redefine our organizational identity. I’m pleased to present to you our new Mission, Vision, Philosophy, and Values (see below). We hope that these will not only portray the direction we are heading but that they will also inspire you to continue partnering with us to give the gift of sight.

Thanks again for your support. We look forward to transforming the lives of many more millions of people around the world together with you!

Best wishes,
Mark, Founder, RestoringVision

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THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE

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NEW ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY

Click here to see our Philosophy and Values!

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To see the complete newsletter, click here.