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Charity gives kids clearer vision

"Our insurance only covers one pair of glasses a year. Once his broke, we just couldn't afford new ones," said his father, 37-year-old Darnell Terry Sr. of Evanston. "He has a lazy eye but he had to go maybe a month without glasses. He had to start sitting closer to the front in school to get his assignments, that sort of thing." Jaylen's story is typical. One in four school-age children have a visual impairment, according to a 2008 study by Prevent Blindness America. But one local charitable group, Mason-based OneSight, is working to tackle the problem. "We have crafted over 32,000 glasses for Cincinnati-area schoolchildren since 1992," said Gregory Hare, executive director of OneSight since 2007. "It's very rewarding to provide eye care to students who otherwise wouldn't be able to receive it." "I need my glasses so I can see to read," said Jaylen, a second-grader at the Academy of World Languages in Evanston. Jaylen received a pair of brown-and-gold Stride Rite wire frame glasses as part of the program last year. "I like these better than my old glasses. They are stronger and they don't break." About 1,000 volunteers go out to area schools each September and October to conduct screenings, Hare said. "Students are selected to receive free glasses based on need, which we determine with input from the school," Hare said. Nearly 1,500 area schoolchildren will receive free eyeglasses this week, Dec. 6-10, as part of OneSight's ongoing charitable efforts. This year's recipients will be bused to Museum Center at Union Terminal during their school day and receive an eye exam inside the "EyeVan" - one of three $700,000 mobile vision centers that OneSight employs - to determine their prescription. "Basically they are a LensCrafters on wheels," said Hare of the over 40-foot-long vehicles that have been part of the program since 1995. "The kids like it and it allows us to get the glasses to them directly and immediately." Once their prescription is determined, the children choose their eyeglasses from hundreds of donated and refurbished frames. Union Terminal provides educational activities while they wait, usually about an hour, while volunteers custom build their lenses inside the van. Testimonials from past recipients and the pleasure of seeing a child put on their new glasses encourages the volunteers to keep coming back, Hare said. "I wear my glasses in the classroom, at recess," Jaylen said. "I wear them every day. I want to do well in school so I can be a policeman." "They helped us when we really needed it," his father said. "And we appreciate it every day."

Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101205/NEWS01/12060313/Charity-gives-kids-clearer-vision