GOLDEN, Colo.—The World Sight Day Challenge was a great success, with thousands of eyecare professionals, companies, students, staff and patients, in the U.S. and around the world, all contributing to raise funds to help eliminate avoidable blindness and impaired vision, according to an announcement from Optometry Giving Sight.

The fundraising efforts continued through Oct. 31, and the charity is estimating that they are currently at 78 percent of their U.S. target if all pledges are received. Optometry Giving Sight is urging anyone who has yet to make a donation to do so at www.givingsight.org/donate.

In addition to efforts by the Coalition, ECPs, optical retailers and dozens of other optical industry companies and organizations held special events on Oct. 9 to raise general awareness and dollars around the cause of undetected refractive error and the needs of so many patients. Social media amplified many of the activities this year. Following are some of the highlights surrounding the WSD Challenge:

Vision Source Member Support Center, Kingwood. Vision Source said, “Many of our practices participated by making personal donations, and /or selling the $5 wristbands and collecting donations from the patients, dollar by dollar, or through events, big and small. This year at the Vision Source Member Support Center, we have taken a more active role in our internal fundraising efforts. We are proud to announce that our total donation, just from the employees at the Vision Source Member Support Center is $70,000.”

U.S. Practice Highlights: Drs. John Hawley and Cache Crawford of Premier Eyecare in Bakersfield, Calif. have been generous supporters of the Challenge and have been donating their eye exam fees for World Sight Day for the past few years. This year their donation will help over 500 people receive the gift of sight.

Dr. Celia de Lourdes Feliciano - Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico said her practice is decorated with WSDC materials, including her own gold ribbons, which symbolize her sight philosophy that “Sight is worth more than all the gold in the world.” Dr. Feliciano not only made her own gift, but invited the support of patients.

Doctors Eyecare Wetaskiwin, Canada, donated the doctor’s eye exam fees, sold eyeball cupcakes and had a draw to win the jar full of chocolate eyeballs, pictured here with the lucky winner of the jar.
VSP Global hosted a week-long community event offering comprehensive eye exams and new glasses to nearly 2,200 people in need, including veterans, at its Sacramento headquarters. ZeaVision also participated to raise awareness about the risks of macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. On World Sight Day, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Misty May-Treanor, VSP’s Vision to Share campaign partner America’s VetDogs, and Optometry Giving Sight spoke with employees, more than 40 volunteer doctors, and the community in support of the World Sight Day Challenge.

The Essilor Group organized events in some 50 countries around the world to raise public awareness and help improve lives by improving sight. This call for action has also been shared on social networks through the #bettersightbetterlife campaign which has touched close to 300,000 people worldwide. Together with Kids Vision for Life, with Essilor of America, Essilor International, EVF International and Special Olympics joined forces to raise the flag for better vision on World Sight Day through Special Olympics events, vision days, social media campaigns and employee engagement. And in Dallas, EVF, Kids Vision for Life and Special Olympics provided vision screenings and eye exams to 50 Special Olympic athletes from the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

As part of CooperVision’s Fight For Sight campaign, where staff around the world were raising funds in support of the World Sight Day Challenge, CooperVision’s 1,700 employees in Puerto Rico exceeded their target raising $12,743.

OneSight executive director Jason Singh shared OneSight’s story with fashion and industry media at an event in honor of World Sight Day. The OneSight street team raisied awareness for The Way We See It campaign in New York’s Flatiron district on World Sight Day.

Prevent Blindness commemorated World Sight Day by co-sponsoring the Vision 2020 USA briefing in Washington, DC, examining diabetic eye disease. Dr. Sandy Block, chair of the Prevent Blindness Public Health Committee moderated the briefing, which featured Dr. Susan Bressler of Johns Hopkins University and Ann Williams, PhD, RN, of Case Western Reserve University discussing diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema.

AllAboutVision.com’s #ShareForSight social media campaign generated 1,150 social media shares in the week leading up to World Sight Day, resulting in a donation of $8,050 for Optometry Giving Sight. The #ShareForSight posts focused on spreading eye health awareness and covered topics like nutrition for healthy eyes, children’s vision problems, myopia control and more.

Zeiss raised funds for the World Sight Day Challenge through sales of World Sight Day T-shirts to employees. An overwhelming response allowed Zeiss Vision Care to exceed its target by 25 percent.