GOLDEN, Colo.—The U.S. eyecare industry will join forces once again to celebrate World Sight Day this Thursday, Oct. 9 in support of Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) and its annual fundraising campaign known as the World Sight Day Challenge. Now in its 7th year, the World Sight Day Challenge is the largest annual global fundraising campaign to address avoidable blindness caused by uncorrected refractive error—the need for an eye exam and glasses.

The campaign has set a fundraising target of $1 million in 2014 and will once again build on the concept of “strength in numbers,” according to an announcement from Optometry Giving Sight. OGS said, “Participating is easy and can be creative make a fundraising pledge, or a monthly or annual donation on or before World Sight Day, Oct. 9. Optometry practices and optical companies can also engage patients, customers and employees with fundraising events and via social media throughout the Challenge period. This year, challenge yourself and your staff to improve on last year’s great results and be recognized with our Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze Achievement Awards.”

“It’s fantastic to see more and more members of the profession and industry supporting World Sight Day and the World Sight Day Challenge each year,” said Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight. “We are grateful for the support that we receive and encourage all eyecare companies, networks and practices to take the Challenge and make a donation so that we can help end avoidable blindness and give sight and hope to the millions of people in need.”

World Sight Day Challenge Coalition members have planned numerous events to raise awareness about the importance of eye health and to provide eyecare and eyewear to people in need. Members also plan to mobilize internal and customer support for the World Sight Day Challenge. Coalition members include ABB Optical Group, Alcon, AllAboutVision.com, CooperVision, Essilor of America, GPLI, Hoya, Jobson Optical Group, TLC Laser Eye Centers, Transitions Optical, Vision Source, ZeaVision, Zeiss, and VSP Global businesses Eyefinity, Marchon Eyewear, VSP Optics Group and VSP Vision Care, among others.

“A main objective of the Coalition is to raise awareness of the many ways that our community supports and delivers eyecare to people who need it—the blind and vision impaired,” said Erik Kapelke, VSP Vision Care vice president of International Business Development, which helped to establish the Coalition. “This is a great opportunity to bring together these industry leading organizations that are focused on giving sight.”

Coalition members have organized a series of activities on and around World Sight Day:

• VSP Global will host a weeklong outreach event offering comprehensive eye exams and new glasses to 2,500 local residents, including veterans, at its Sacramento headquarters from Oct. 6 to 10. Care will be provided on board three VSP Mobile Eyes clinics, which include finishing labs, plus additional lanes of portable eye exam equipment.

• The Special Olympics Opening Eyes program and Essilor Vision Foundation are coordinating a screening on World Sight Day at the Essilor campus in Dallas, in partnership with Lions Clubs International and the Alcon Foundation. Essilor of America, and Essilor Vision Foundation will join Essilor Group subsidiaries and partners from around the world in a digital campaign—#bettersightbetterlife— to raise awareness of the importance of vision care on Oct. 9.

• TLC Laser Eye Centers will announce the winners of their Operation TLC promotion on World Sight Day, which will see a team of 20 ODs and support staff undertake an outreach visit to the Dominican Republic in January 2015.

• CooperVision, a Global Sponsor, is conducting its “Fight for Sight” global campaign, in which all employees are encouraged to participate in fundraising events organized at their local CooperVision sites and donate to Optometry Giving Sight. Employee donations will be matched by The Cooper Companies, CooperVision’s parent company.

• ABB Optical Group is encouraging all their customers to purchase and distribute Optometry Giving Sight wristbands and their staff worked to raise funds in September as part of their Give Back program. ABB accounts ordering online can donate directly to OSG through their online shopping cart. For each $5.00 donation made online, ABB will match the donation.

• Vision Source, a Platinum In Kind sponsor, will encourage all its members to make a personal or practice donation and involve their staff and patients through October, and match all donations to an agreed limit. They will also conduct a participation drive at their Kingwood Texas campus with all Vision Source Member Support Center employees.

• AllAboutVision.com will be conducting “Share for Sight,” a social media campaign to promote eye health and Optometry Giving Sight, this week leading up to World Sight Day. Each share of a post will generate a donation to the World Sight Day Challenge.

• Vision Expo West exhibitors supported the World Sight Day Challenge by making a small donation to Optometry Giving Sight to purchase “people power” wristbands that were worn by staff and given to booth visitors.

• New National sponsor, ZeaVision, made a donation related to product sales at Vision Expo West and raised funds through staff led fund raising initiatives; while Carl Zeiss Vision and Transitions Optical will both be encouraging their corporate and manufacturing staff to raise funds, which the companies will match.

In addition to efforts by the Coalition, thousands of ECPs, optical retailers and dozens of other optical industry companies and organizations will take part:

• On World Sight Day, OneSight’s The Way We See It campaign will generate awareness of the global vision crisis and raise donations that will provide direct vision care access to those in need. A unique microsite experience at www.thewaywesee.it will provide a sense of what life is like through the eyes of a girl without access to vision care. OneSight is a global vision care nonprofit supported by Luxottica.

• As part of the challenge, ClearVision is donating $5 on behalf of each customer who places an online order of four or more pieces on World Sight Day, to Optometry Giving Sight. The company will also raise funds in support of World Sight Day through an employee sunglass sale. Employees are also encouraged to donate unused frames that can be repurposed to “give sight” to those who otherwise would not be able to see without glasses.

• The North American World Sight Day Student Challenge will once again award three travel stipends to colleges that raise the most in donations. The travel awards are generously donated every year by Dr. Greg Pearl of VOSH International.

• In addition to promoting World Sight Day through its network, Helen Keller International will honor Jordan Kassalow, OD, co-chairman and founder of VisionSpring, with its Second Annual Service Award on Oct. 9 in NYC.

Optometry Giving Sight suggests the following social media tips. Use the #givingsight hashtag when posting to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Anyone can click the hashtag #givingsight and see all your World Sight Day Challenge posts tagged (depending on Facebook privacy settings). Share posts directly to the Optometry Giving Sight Facebook page by tagging them: https://www.facebook.com/OptometryGivingSight. You may need to like the page before tagging.

Look for more coverage of WSD activities on Vision Monday, A Greater Vision and via VM’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Share your activities via social media and the #givingsight hashtag.