Growth and Expansion

Since 1996, Sight Savers has brought renewed hope to as many children as the organization can serve. The first year that number was eleven.

In 2009 alone, more than 35,000 children were served and the numbers are growing each year. As of 2009, over 150,000 children in four states have been assisted by Sight Savers America.

Sight Savers America Teams

with Organizations in Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles

to Help Children with Low Vision

June 13, Chicago – Soldier Field

October 24, Los Angeles – UCLA Campus

Sight Savers America, SCCO, and Optelec provide sophisticated low vision technology to help teen see things he never dreamed possible.

November 6, Houston-Discovery Green Park

“You mean I can keep it?” asked an incredulous Quanek Collins as he looked through the lens of his sophisticated new vision aid.  Most folks call this advanced tool for the visually impaired a Closed Circuit Television Magnifier (CCTV).  Quanek calls it magic.

That’s because this ten year old Chicago boy is seeing clearly for the first time, a new experience for the child who daily faces the challenges of living with a rare eye disease for which there is no cure. But, on this day Quanek is all smiles as Sight Savers’ staff completes training on the new magnifier and begins to box it up for youngster to take home with him.

A heartwarming scene, that  was to be repeated throughout the year as Sight Savers continued its national expansion by forming alliances within the eye care industry, first in Chicago, then LA and Houston.

The strategic plan to expand Sight Savers Low Vision Program to the national level got its first big boost last spring when Optelec, a world leader in assistive technologies for the blind and visually impaired, recognized Sight Savers as a national leader in providing assistive technology to children with low vision. These two organizations formed a rare partnership teaming a non-profit organization with a for profit business.  Now, the Sight Savers/Optelec Alliance is growing throughout the nation as partnering vision health organizations join forces to identify children with low vision who need our help.

In Chicago, Spectrios Institute for Low Vision, an Illinois-based not-for profit organization that provides comprehensive visual rehabilitation programs, played a key role by helping to identify Quanek as a child who could greatly benefit from having a CCTV in his home.

In Los Angeles, the Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO) took over that role to identify Sarkis Gekayyan a 16 year old LA teen living with severe visual impairment due to a rare optic nerve disease.   This young artist said a prayer of thanksgiving as he gratefully accepted his “gift of sight.”

“Our hallmark at Sight Savers is to put high-tech vision aids into the homes of as many visually impaired children as possible based on recommendations from low vision experts like those with whom we’ve been working,” said Jeff Haddox, Sight Savers America President/CEO. “When children with low vision have access to this sophisticated technology they are immediately motivated to become more independent and lead more normal lives.””

In Houston, another surprise gift for a child with low vision:   9^th grader Abisai Andrade was all smiles as he called his new CCTV “the best gift in the world.”  Sight Savers partnered with the University of Houston College of Optometry Center for Sight Enhancement which recommended that Abisai, a history buff who loves dinosaurs, be given a CCTV.

“Our partnerships with such highly respected organizations as Optelec, Spectrios, SCCO and HCO are huge building blocks in the Sight Savers’ national expansion program now underway,” said Haddox.  ”The strength of unique coalitions like these is that they allow all organizations involved to fulfill the shared goal of helping children achieve the best vision possible.”

Sight Savers will return to Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston later this year to hold low vision clinics where at least ten children with low vision will be identified in each city.  Each will receive a CCTV to take home.

“These initial low vision clinics in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston will establish three new programs to serve 30 or more children each year,” said Haddox.  “We will also add two new cities annually to this national expansion.”