The TOMS One for One movement is now helping save and restore sight in 11 countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Tibet and the United States!

Since the launch of TOMS Eyewear last summer we have seen the incredible impact prescription glasses, medical treatment, and sight-saving surgeries have had on the lives of individuals, families and communities. People have regained their sight and rejoined the work force, they’ve been able to focus better in school, they’ve reconnected with their families and, as we have heard from many of those that have received TOMS-supported services, they’ve gained “a new life.” We’re excited that TOMS-supported sight services are now reaching even more people with this expansion into more countries.

How is it done?
TOMS partners with Seva Foundation and an amazing network of well-respected, professional, community-based eye care organizations that will continue to deliver high-quality eye care to those in need, and build local knowledge and capacity in each of these new countries.

Through our partnership with Seva Foundation, TOMS has tailored our Sight Giving model to not only change people’s lives in the short-term, but to contribute to the sustainability and growth of local eye care programs in the long-term. Your TOMS Eyewear purchases are contributing to training teachers and community health workers. And they are allowing established eye care programs to do outreach to communities where no eye care has been accessible before!

As Dr. Suzanne Gilbert, from the Center for Innovation in Eye Care for Seva Foundation, notes, “When you reach out to a new community to provide eye care services, all of these people return home able to see again, and their neighbors start to realize that eye care can have an immediate economic impact on their lives! Over time, these communities develop trust in the eye care program, and even start to want to contribute some payment toward their own eye care. TOMS’ support allows these programs to serve more people today, and help build a long-term local market for paying eye care patients tomorrow.”

Thank you for supporting the One for One movement! We are excited to share stories from these new countries in the coming weeks…

Name: Renchen
Age: 35
Location: Menzikhang Hospital, Tibet
Giving Partner: Seva Foundation

Seva Foundation, a TOMS Sight Giving Partner, recently shared this amazing story with us from Tibet.

Renchen is 35 years old and a mother of four. For work, she washes cars in town and her husband does construction. With Renchen’s mother at home to help watch the kids, they support their young family with their combined income.

About a year ago, Renchen’s vision began to deteriorate. She soon went completely blind in her right eye. Slowly, she began to require assistance with many of her daily tasks, until even walking on her own became a challenge. Eventually, Renchen had to stop working and, often, her husband had to leave or miss work to help care for her, putting a large strain on the family’s earnings.

Last Fall, however, things took a turn for the better. Renchen’s husband accompanied her on a three-day trip to the Menzikhang Eye Hospital. There, the eye care staff screened her vision and, through a series of tests, determined that Renchen had a cataract in her right eye. The gradual clouding of her eye’s lens had caused her to slowly lose vision until the clouding was so dense that she could no longer see out of that eye.

Menzikhang Hospital was able to provide Renchen with a cataract surgery, made possible by a TOMS Eyewear purchase. They replaced the cloudy lens in her right eye with an artificial lens to restore her vision!

After the staff removed her bandage, Renchen said, “The objects that I am seeing [now] are so bright! They seem to have extra light!”

With her sight restored, Renchen was eager to return to work, and now that she has regained her physical independence, Renchen’s husband could return to work, too.

This is the power of the One for One model, and we are incredibly moved to know our community’s support of TOMS Eyewear is helping not only individuals, but also helping families get back on their feet!

As TOMS sight giving continues in Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia, we are very happy to share that TOMS Eyewear purchases are now helping restore sight to children in the United States as well!

TOMS is excited to partner with Helen Keller International’s (HKI) ChildSight® program to help provide prescription glasses to children living in impoverished U.S. communities. Since 1994, ChildSight® has provided vision screening and prescription eyeglasses to at-risk students living in urban and rural communities in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and the Navajo Nation. TOMS Eyewear is proud to join them in helping provide new glasses to children.

Each year, 2 million children in the United States have undiagnosed or uncorrected vision problems. Without glasses, children with poor vision struggle in school. Amy, a sixth grader in Los Angeles explains, “Sometimes I get dizzy when I look at the board and it is hard to understand the teacher. A lot of times I have to ask the person sitting next to me what the board says. It’s hard to stay focused.”

Corey Hodes, an optometrist with ChildSight®, shares, “A lot of kids come in and can’t even see the big E on the eye chart. When I put the glasses on them and refine their vision, we are getting them down to the bottom line! Seeing their eyes open up and realize that there are actually letters before them on the chart, I can’t really describe it in words…I just know that from that point forward, this child is going to have more confidence; they are going to have better success in school…and in reaching their full potential.”

"A lot of kids come in and can’t even see the big E on the eye chart. When I put the glasses on them and refine their vision, we are getting them down to the bottom line!" - Corey Hodes, an optometrist with ChildSight®

We are so grateful for our awesome customers and the amazing work our Sight Giving Partners are doing in Nepal, Cambodia, Tibet and now the United States. We’re looking forward to sharing more sight stories from at home and around the world with the TOMS community in the coming months!

Check out more on Helen Keller International and ChildSight®.

Source: hki.org