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Give the Gift of Sight volunteer Jeni Deveto is all smiles as Keeven Elementary School student Dorian Smith takes a peek at the new specs he will be able to wear in a matter of hours. Volunteer doctors and eyewear professionals from the Gift of Sight program makes lenses for his new frames on site at the school from inside a mobile optometrist’s office.

Dozens of youngsters at Keeven Elementary School now have a clearer picture of their classroom work and the world around them because of the generosity of employees of Luxottica Retail who give back to the community through the Give the Gift of Sight program.

Italy-based Luxottica Group is the parent company of the retail giant that owns many well-known eyewear outlets, including Target Optical, Sears Optical, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut.

Luxottica encourages its employees to spend a little time and expertise to the Give the Gift of Sight, the company’s charitable program.

“It is all volunteers,” said Denille Dyer, a Give the Gift of Sight captain for Sunglass Hut. “Employees donate a few hours of their time to Gift of Sight each month.”

When Give the Gift of Sight volunteers are not cleaning, sorting and determining prescription strengths for glasses donated to their stores for use in third-world countries, their eyes are on some of those who need their expertise most—children who need to see clearly to learn. (Adults may receive services through the program as well.)

“We felt there was a need,” said Julie Ellis, school nurse at Keeven. Ellis worked with her daughter (a Sunglass Hut employee and a Give the Gift of Sight volunteer) to get the group to Keeven.

“Students who don’t have insurance will qualify for free eye exams and free glasses,” said Sue Fields, principal at Keeven. “Those with insurance will be referred to places that accept their insurance.”

The road to better vision began in the library with two days of screening all students in kindergarten and first, third and fifth grades. Students referred by their teachers in grades two, four and six were screened on day three. Local Gift of Sight volunteers screened the children for close-up and distance vision.

After three days of screening, Gift of Sight volunteers did something more remarkable—they called for reinforcements. A few days later three eye doctors on wheels rolled up to the front door of Keeven, bringing with him a Gift of Sight bus (called the vision van) loaded with new lenses, frames and technicians to make glasses for the children on site.

“When are we going to get our glasses?” one little boy asked anxiously after picking out his frames inside the bus.

“Later today or tomorrow,” the doctor reassured.

“Sixty-six children went to the van,” the principal said of children whose initial screening indicated they may have vision problems. “Out of 66, 45 got glasses,” she beamed.

Fields shared a story about a boy who did not take his parent permission slip home because he did not want to wear glasses. The principal called one of his parents, who promptly came to the school and gave permission for the volunteers to make her son eyeglasses.

The boy does live in the “show me state.” And a lot of hard-working, caring adults “showed” him.

“Later in the day I saw him after he had been wearing his glasses for a while, he said ‘Mrs. Fields, you were right! I can see!” she said.

New visual clarity found in familiar surroundings—truly the Gift of Sight.
(Courtesy of Hazelwood School District)
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