EYEsee News
EYEsee Supports 2013 Mission to Cambodia
EYEsee supported the February 25 - March 2, 2013 health mission in Takeo Province, Cambodia by the Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America (CHPAA) with a donation of 2,500 eyeglasses. CHPAA is a U.S.-based non-profit humanitarian organization that provides ongoing service and education to the medically underserved Cambodians. Dr. Visal Nga, CHPAA Vice President, reports on the results of their mission:
Dear EYEsee,
On behalf of Cambodian Health Professionals Association of American (CHPAA), I would like to thank your organization for your continued support. Here are the breakdown from our medical-dental-surgical mission in Takeo Province, Cambodia 2013:
- Mon, Feb 25th: 768 patients
- Tues, Feb 26th: 1,085 patients
- Wed, Feb 27th: 1,433 patients
- Thurs, Feb 28th: 1,418 patients
- Fri, Mar 1st: 1,528 patients
- Sat, Mar 2nd: 492 patients
- The dental team treated about 130 patients per day, with distribution of tooth brushes (6,000-8,000) and tubes of toothpaste.
- The surgical team operated on 89 patients.
- The eye team operated on a total of 19 patients (6 by Dr. Gregg Feinerman, 13 by Dr. Stephen Prepas). CHPAA referred and paid for the treatment of 34 patients.
- The L-N 4 Hands fitted 84 hands.
- A total of 813 eyeglasses were distributed:
- Mon, Feb 25th: 100 patients
- Tues, Feb 26th: 150 patients
- Wed, Feb 27th: 135 patients
- Thurs, Feb 28th: 160 patients
- Fri, Mar 1st: 170 patients
- Sat, Mar 2nd: 98 patients
EYEsee Supports March 2013 Mission to Uganda
PeopleWeaver is a non-profit organization established to provide economic assistance, such as microcredit loans, to impoverished women in developing countries. Currently, its efforts are focused on the women refugees living in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda. In March 2013 PeopleWeaver returned to Uganda for their 4th mission trip and EYEsee supported this mission with a donation of 300 eyeglasses. Jeanne Ratzloff, PeopleWeaver President, reports on the results of this mission:
Dear Ms. Guzon,In 2011 EYEsee donated reading glasses to PeopleWeaver. Most of these glasses were distributed to the people living in the Kyangwali, but we also traveled to Bunagana in the Democratic Republic of the Congro (DR Congo), where we also distributed a few. Unfortunately, in 2012 Bunagana experienced renewed rebel activity and many of the people we met fled to the Ugandan border, which is just a few miles away. Currently, many people have returned to Bunagana or stay in Uganda at night and return to Bunagana during the day to farm. Regardless of where the people are, the eyeglasses given to them by EYEsee are invaluable to their day-to-day lives.
We returned to Uganda in March 2013 and again we took reading glasses EYEsee donated to us. The eyeglasses distribution was again a huge success. This time we scheduled the distribution to take place on the same day and at the same location as the small malaria net distribution we were having. During the distribution, it is always our hope that people know their magnification number, but most don’t. Because the people are isolated geographically and very poor, they rarely have the luxury of going to town (three hours by mini-bus), or have the hope of purchasing their own glasses. For those who don’t know their number, we give printed material and they try on glasses until they find the best magnification.
This was our 4th trip to Uganda and, our of all the things we’ve taken, it’s obvious eyeglasses are desperately needed, greatly appreciated and one of the best uses of our limited baggage space. Therefore, we took a few books to start the camp’s First Little Library and the rest of our baggage and carry-on bags had reading glasses in them.
With the renewed violence in the DR Congo, Kyanwali has seen an influx of refugees. Currently, there are almost 26,000 people living there. Since we’ve been home, EYEsee has sent us another 200 glasses. I’m in the process of cleaning, sorting and placing each pair in a small plastic bag. I want to have the glasses ready for our next trip.
During our recent visit, the microcredit women asked for English lessons. Currently, we are studying the feasibility of offering classes in English, nutrition and business. If the costs of an adult women’s schooling can be kept low, it is probable that we will do pilot courses this year. We’d love to target mature ladies who are eager to learn and usually overlooked. It’s not just the young who are the hope for the future. And you know, of course, that the older people are more likely to needed reading glasses!
There are two short videos on YouTube that were taken during the distribution; the quality isn’t very good but you might be interested. Amos is one of the people we met in Bunagana in 2011 who has since fled the area, in 2011 he didn’t know a word of English (sorry the video is short).
EYEsee Founder Wins 2013 Glamour Top Ten College Women Readers’ Choice Award
Glamour Magazine named Janice Guzon, EYEsee Founder & President, as the 2013 Glamour Top Ten College Women Readers’ Choice Award. Janice represented The University of Chicago in this competition. Janice received more than 200,000 votes or 36.83% out of the total votes cast during the January 7th-28th competition and will be receiving a $1,500 price from Glamour.
In offering her thoughts on winning the Top 10 Readers’ Choice Contest, Janice said, “being chosen as a candidate for this award provided me the opportunity to spotlight EYEsee’s mission and the work that EYEsee has done thus far in behalf of the world’s poor alongside the achievements of six other outstanding college women who are equally striving to better our world.” The contest also allowed Janice to start a conversation about the EYEsee Vision Center—a global project to establish health centers in those parts of the world whose impoverished populations have the most desperate needs for eyeglasses and vision care but are simply medically underserved because of their remote and dangerous locations. In describing the goal of the vision centers, Janice explained, “They will extend the work of EYEsee beyond those areas that EYEsee’s mission partners currently serve; they will make vision care available to the local population in remote areas year-round.”
Janice intends to use the prize from this competition to launch the EYEsee Vision Center global project. This project will require many resources and partnerships. It will involve local governments and local communities which with their own share of resources in running the vision centers. It will employ cutting-edge technology to bridge the large gap between needs and resources. It will involve partnerships with U.S. medical schools and networks of U.S. eye clinics. She hopes that the resulting public interest from the Glamour competition will facilitate EYEsee’s effort to move this global initiative from planning to reality.
EYEsee Supports the January 27 to February 23, 2013 Mission to Nicaragua
The January 27 to February 23, 2013 mission to Siuna, Nicaragua, was a joint effort by Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and Bridges to Community. TUSM is a medical school dedicated to training excellent doctors to meet the health care needs of communities in the U.S. and around the world. Bridges to Community is a non-profit community development organization dedicated to meeting the basic needs of people in developing countries through volunteer work. EYEsee supported this mission with a donation of 450 eyeglasses.
Lisa Netkowicz, a fourth year medical student at TUSM who was with the medical team, reports on the results of the mission:
Hi Janice,
Our trip to Nicaragua was very successful! We flew into Managua then had to take a 12 passenger plane to Siuna and finally a bus to a small village named El Hormiguerro which means ant hill. We stayed in a convent with a large bunk house, kitchen, and latrines so the accommodations were rather rustic.
The health post we worked in was a half mile down the road. We worked with an NGO named Bridges to Community which is dedicated to community building including housing, clean water, and medical care. They set up a daily schedule where each village was assigned a day to come to our clinic. Some people walked upwards of six hours to come to be seen by a doctor. People were registered in the morning, given a number, and then we called in patients. Our goal was to see about 50 patients each day.
Anyone who had vision issues was triaged to a nurse or a volunteer to test their vision and find a pair of glasses that were appropriate. Many people received glasses and were very excited to be able to see. All in all we gave out 400 pairs of glasses and left 50 glasses at the clinic to be distributed by the Nicaraguan doctor who works there. Many people need reading glasses for close vision as they get older. These glasses usually come with a number on the lenses and are much easier to distribute. Sunglasses are also great to send to sunny places. Many people can't afford to buy them and work outside all day.
Thank you so much for your help! It was very rewarding to see people's faces light up when they received a pair of glasses that worked. I really felt like we were improving the quality of life of the people in the Siuna region. I have included some pictures that were taken of people who received glasses and the group of doctors who worked at the clinic.
New Jersey High School Student Partners with EYEsee to Help the Poor
Alec Silverstein, a junior at Biotechnology High School in Freehold, New Jersey, learned about EYEsee last year and immediately asked to be involved with its mission and work. He started an eyeglasses collection project late last year by putting collection boxes in a number of ophthalmology clinics in Monmouth, New Jersey. At the beginning of the year, Alec shipped his initial collection of 150 eyeglasses to EYEsee, which were added to the total eyeglasses distributed during the January 27 - February 23, 2013 mission to Siuna, Nicaragua.
Alec shares his thoughts about partnering with EYEsee:
I have a condition called anisotropic amblyopia and I have been wearing glasses since I was three years old, and though I often complain about them, I realize how lucky I am to get the eye care I needed. There are so many people around the world who cannot see properly simply because they do not have access to eye doctors to examine them, or they are too poor to buy the eyeglasses they need. I was so excited to learn about the work EYEsee is doing and even more so that it was started by students! We can all make such a difference. I became motivated to get involved, and with the supervision of my own pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. Ronald Minzter, I started collecting glasses on my own.
I would like to thank all the professionals who allow me to collect glasses from their patients and patrons: Ronald Minzter M.D., Lauren Goldstein M.D., Jeffrey Silverstein M.D., Robert Scharfman M.D. (Atlantic Medical Eye Care), Mark Friedberg M.D. (Mid-Atlantic Eye Center), Cohen’s Fashion Optical in the Freehold Raceway Mall (Freehold, N.J.) and Paul Borromeo at 20/20 Optik (Freehold, N.J.).
My goal is to collect 1,000 pairs of glasses by the summer!
Cast your votes for EYEsee for Glamour Magazine's 2013 Readers' Choice Competition
Each year, Glamour magazine features several young women as honorees for their Top College Women of the Year Awards. Founded in 1939, Glamour magazine is now a major publication that reaches a readership of about 2.37 million worldwide.
For their 2013 Top Ten College Women Readers’ Choice Award, Glamour is spotlighting Janice Guzon, Founder & President of EYEsee, on Glamour.com along with 6 other top college women. EYEsee is an international health organization that collects and distributes eyeglasses to the poor in developing countries. Janice represents The University of Chicago, where she is double-majoring in public policy and sociology.
Beginning January 7th and running through January 28th, the public can cast their vote for EYEsee and Janice on Glamour’s website. (Click here to vote)
Receiving the most votes on Glamour’s 2013 Readers’ Choice Competition will be a significant milestone for EYEsee. It will give EYEsee global exposure, generating increased public interest about EYEsee’s mission and work.
The award from this competition will be used as seed money for EYEsee Vision Centers—a planned project to extend vision missions in developing countries beyond those areas that are currently being served by EYEsee’s mission partners. It will be a partnership project between EYEsee and local governments and communities in the poorest parts of the world. It will address the desperate need for healthcare service to areas that are medically underserved because of their remote and dangerous locations. It will make ophthalmological service available to the local population year-round.
Readers can cast multiple votes for EYEsee on Glamour.com through January 28th.: http://www.glamour.com/inspired/blogs/the-conversation/2013/01/the-2013-top-ten-college-women.html
EYEsee Kicks Off ‘2013 Campaign’ Campaign: Marks EYEsee’s 5th Year As International Health Organization
EYEsee rolls out its 2013 Campaign on January 19th-20th with a weekend collection drive at Holy Family parish in Inverness, IL. The 2013 Campaign is EYEsee’s fifth annual used eyeglasses collection drive as an all-student run international health organization. Janice Guzon, founder and president, has set a goal of 12,000 eyeglasses for the 2013 Campaign. Proceeds from this campaign will supply health missions this year to Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Philippines, Nigeria and Uganda.
Twelve parishes in the Chicago suburbs are welcoming the EYEsee 2013 Campaign. Parish weekend collection drives will be held between January and June. Saint Viator students will be leading these weekend drives.
Collections will also be held at The University of Chicago’s Calvert House and Northwestern University’s Sheil Center. They will be joined by area elementary and high schools, which will be collecting used eyeglasses for the 2013 Campaign as a community service project by their student councils, as a school-wide Lenten mission project, or as an EYEsee Chapter initiative. Lexi Glinos, a Saint Viator junior, leads EYEsee’s chapter development and campus ministry activities.
EYEsee will again be holding collections at public offices, including public libraries and village halls. These public offices have been big supporters of EYEsee’s past annual collections. Collections will also be held at several senior homes.
Through the 2013 Campaign, EYEsee will continue to expanding its network of optical clinics, an effort begun last year by Paul Lewis, a Saint Viator junior. Paul continues to lead collections for optical clinics for the 2013 Campaign.
EYEsee will be inviting service groups, including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, community clubs, non-profit groups and charitable organizations to join the 2013 Campaign. EYEsee will expand private office collections this year with many invitations to medium and large corporations to support EYEsee’s cause.
The leadership team for the 2013 Campaign, comprised of Saint Viator students, will drive the various programs for this year’s campaign. Peter Glinos, a Saint Viator senior, is EYEsee’s President at Saint Viator High School.
Global Project: EYEsee Vision Centers in Developing Countries
EYEsee kicks off this year the planning phase of its global project to build EYEsee Vision Centers in developing countries around the world. The need for these centers arises from the fact that there are many areas in developing countries that have a desperate need for healthcare services but are medically underserved because of their remote and dangerous locations. The EYEsee Vision Center will provide these areas with ophthalmological services.
EYEsee’s various mission partners presently undertake overseas missions only once or twice year at most and they set up their clinics in urban areas. Word-of-mouth announcements are passed on to communicate the arrival of these health missions as well as their clinic venues and clinic dates. Frequently, not enough eyeglasses can be provided by the clinics alone to the patients in the urban areas who line up for days to receive their prescriptions and eyeglasses. In many cases, patients are fitted not to their exact prescriptions but to what eyeglasses are available from the limited eyeglasses supplies that missions are able to carry during their trip. Often, patients in remote areas travel by foot for days in order to get to the mission clinics.
The EYEsee Vision Center global project aims to address those limitations and needs. It will extend vision missions beyond those areas that EYEsee’s existing humanitarian partners only serve. It will involve partnerships with local governments and local communities, which will have their own share of resources in running the clinic. The project will ensure that patients receive the exact eyeglasses they need, and it will make ophthalmological services available to the local population in remote areas year-round.
This global project is complex and will require much cooperation with partners to successfully implement. Conversations with local governments and community leaders will be needed to assess their commitment to this project. The local government and community leaders will provide the physical space and the volunteer staff to run the day-to-day activities in the center. EYEsee will supply the eyeglasses from a central inventory managed through a database that it plans to build.
EYEsee would like to the conversation started this year on this global project. EYEsee hopes that the project will garner significant public interest so that the necessary resources will become available to move forward with its development.
The knowledge acquired during this mission will be significant input for the planning activities for this project this year.
2012 Campaign Collects Over 7,800 Eyeglasses Volunteers and Donors Help Expand Annual Campaign Reach
EYEsee’s fourth annual campaign received generous support from Chicago-area parishes, schools, campus ministries, public and private offices, optical clinics, private donors and a senior home. New businesses joined this year’s campaign, expanding EYEsee’s annual collection across several states. EYEsee Michigan Chapter again generously supported this year’s campaign. The 2012 Campaign concluded with more than 7,800 eyeglasses collected.
Parishes
Peter Glinos, a Saint Viator senior, led the parish campaign. Twelve parishes hosted weekend collection drives. Sixteen Saint Viator student spent weekends assisting during these drives. The parishes included St. Alphonsus Liguori (Prospect Hts.), Our Lady of Hope (Rosemont), Church of the Holy Ghost (Wood Dale), St. Frances de Sales (Lake Zurich), St. Isidore (Bloomingdale), St. Anne (Barrington), St. Isaac Joques (Niles), St. Paul of the Cross (Park Ridge), St. Hubert (Hoffman Estates), St. Emily (Mt. Prospect), St. Thomas of Villanova (Palatine) St. Mary (Buffalo Grove) and St. John the Evangelist (Streamwood). Together, these parishes generously donated 2,147 eyeglasses to the 2012 Campaign.
Schools & Campus Ministries
Lexi Glinos, a Saint Viator junior, served as EYEsee’s leader for the school and campus ministry campaign. Collection drives were held at Calvert House (The University of Chicago), Sheil Catholic Center (Northwestern University), Saint Viator High School and Regina Dominican High School (Wilmette). EYEsee also received donations from student clubs at St. James School (Arlington Hts.), St. Thomas of Villanova School (Palatine), St. Emily School (Mt. Prospect), St. Zachary School (Des Plaines), Frassati Catholic Academy (Wauconda) and Hoover Math & Science Academy (Schaumburg). The Auburn University Women’s Basketball Team led by Arnika Edwards (Auburn, Alabama) again supported this year’s campaign. Together, the schools and campus ministries campaign collected 824 eyeglasses.
As EYEsee’s lead for chapter development, Lexi travelled to Wichita Collegiate High School last April where she gave a presentation on EYEsee’s work and mission to the faculty, staff and students of the high school.
Public Offices
Rachel Rapala, a Saint Viator junior, led EYEsee’s public offices campaign. Six public offices that supported last year’s campaign again welcomed EYEsee’s 2012 Campaign to their main offices. They are the Villages of Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Itasca and Elk Grove. They were joined by the Arlington Heights Memorial Library and the Elk Grove Public Library. These public offices invited the general public to drop off their donations of eyeglasses in the EYEsee collection box prominently displayed in their main lobbies. EYEsee received 849 eyeglasses from these public offices.
Private Offices
EYEsee reached another milestone with the participation by several large businesses which chose the 2012 Campaign as their corporate project this year. The Hartford B-Green Team and the Hartford Service Center of Bombardier, led by Karen Perham-Lippman and Vicki Helton, sponsored an eyeglasses recycling effort as a cooperative project among their different locations. Bombardier is the world’s only manufacturer of both planes and trains. From March 12 to March 30, Bombardier employees in Hartford, Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Macon, Tucson, West Virginia, Wichita, Bridgeport and Windsor Locks joined forces to host network-wide eyeglass donation drives. Bombardier’s efforts added 1,090 eyeglasses to EYEsee’s 2012 Campaign.
The Asian Professionals for Excellence (APEX) led by Sue Young at Standard & Poor’s and the McGraw-Hill’s Diversity & Inclusion Team sponsored a company-wide collection drive in their New York offices last April. They collected 544 eyeglasses for the 2012 Campaign.
Bonnie Wong, President of Asian Women in Business (AWIB), requested the association’s general membership to support EYEsee’s campaign by dropping off eyeglass donations at AIWB’s New York office. AIWB is a non-profit organization which assists Asian women entrepreneurs.
Three area businesses also supported the 2012 Campaign. They are CBRE Asset Services (Schaumburg), Atrium Corporate Center (Rolling Meadows) and Classic Sunglasses (Barrington). Classic Sunglasses is once again this year’s top donor, with 1,250 sunglasses donated to EYEsee. Tom Longeway, President of Classic Sunglasses, is a big supporter of EYEsee’s annual campaign.
Optical ClinicsPaul Lewis, a Saint Viator junior, led EYEsee’s program to start work on building a network of optical clinics in the Chicago-area. EYEsee aims to partner with optical clinics to support overseas vision missions. Paul rolled out this campaign last spring, successfully recruiting five new private practice optical clinics for EYEsee. They are Northwest Ophthalmology (Arlington Heights), Northwest Eye Clinic (Des Plaines), Global Optical (Hoffman Estates), Sullivan Ostoich Eye Center (Hoffman Estates) and Illinois Eye Center (Schaumburg). Suburban Associates in Ophthalmology again generously supported this year’s campaign. Dr. Cereesa Longest has welcomed EYEsee’s campaign at Suburban Associates’ clinics in Elk Grove and Hoffman Estates during the last two years. Dr. Mildred Olivier of Midwest Glaucoma Center and an alumni of Sacred Heart High School once again supported EYEsee’s efforts. Together, these optical clinics added 546 eyeglasses to this year’s campaign.
Senior Home
Kristen Yi, a junior at Saint Viator High School, led a Saturday collection drive at Church Creek Sunrise Senior Living (Arlington Heights). Holly Campa, Community Life Director at Church Creek again welcomed EYEsee volunteers at the center. EYEsee received 85 eyeglasses from this drive.
Michigan Chapter
EYEsee Chapter at the First Lutheran Church in Gladstone, Michigan, is EYEsee’s Upper Peninsula branch. As a ministry for middle school kids, youth members lead efforts to collect eyeglasses in their congregation and other area congregations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northeast Wisconsin. Cooper Koski, Shelby Martinucci, Charlotte Strom, Matt Swanson and Emma Bouche actively lead this ministry. This chapter added 248 eyeglasses to the 2012 Campaign.
EYEsee gratefully acknowledges the generous support from the many members, volunteers, sponsors and donors that collectively helped make 2012 Campaign a success.
EYEsee Supports the May-June 2012 Mission to Apayao, Philippines
EYEsee supported the May-June 2012 health mission to Apayao Province in the Philippines by the Agkakabsat International Movement (AIM). AIM is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support developmental community services. The beneficiaries of this mission included senior citizens, unemployed parents and poor students. Naida Raugh, AIM founder, reports on the outcome of this mission.
More than 1,200 seniors benefitted from The EYE CARE Mission held in Apayao, the 4th poorest province in the Philippines. The mission was conducted during a period of five consecutive weekends for the whole month of May and early part of June 2012. It was one of the “We Care” Projects sponsored by Agkakabsat International Movement (AIM), a not-for-profit organization with the cooperation of EYESee Organization.
EYEsee donated more than a thousand gently used unsorted and unclassified eyeglasses and more than 700 new and used sunglasses. Once the shipment of these eyeglasses and sunglasses arrived in Luna, Apayao, officers and members of Quirino Women’s Organization volunteered to assist in cleaning and sorting of the eyeglasses. The Eye Care Mission was coordinated with the province’s Department of Social Welfare who identified and verified seniors 65-and older as recipients. Barangay and senior organizations’ officials from 23 neighborhoods were then notified to help inform, gather, and assist seniors.
Dr. Aurea Tejada, a local optometrist, agreed to provide the necessary eye checkup charging only $1.25 (instead of $25) per senior. Dr. Tejada conducted seven mobile eye clinics in different barangays /neighborhoods. Apayao Planning Officer, Jeana Marie Piano Bayani headed the overall coordination of the Eye Care Mission. She was assisted by Department of Social Welfare Officer Cora Piano and Agkakabsat International Treasurer Dinia Piano Bayani and a dozen volunteers from the seniors and the Women’s organizations and the local officials.
After the eye checkup, the volunteers matched and labeled the eyeglasses for each recipient. A total of 700 eyeglasses from EYEsee organization matched our seniors. In order to meet all the needs of the seniors who had the eye checkup, more than 500 new pairs of eyeglasses costing a discounted $25 a pair had to be ordered and paid for from donations collected from AIM’s supporters.
1,200 new and used eyeglasses, all labeled and matched with each specific senior’s name were handed by Naida Raugh, Founder of Agkakabsat International Movement (AIM) to Apayao’s DSWD Officer Cora Piano on June 13, 2012. Ms. Piano then called a meeting among all the Presidents of Senior Organizations from different barangays and gave the eyeglasses to them for distribution.
Overall, the donated gently used eyeglasses from EYEsee organization were pivotal to the success of Agkakabsat International Eye Care Mission. Thank you EYEsee.
For additional info about Agkakabsat International Movement (AIM), contact 061134198098 or mail Agkakabsat International Movement (AIM), Quirino, Luna, Apayao, Philippines 3813