A coalition of optometric companies and organizations is working together to support this year's World Sight Day Challenge, which is running now through October. World Sight Day is October 13.
 
This is the 10^th year of the Challenge, which encourages all members of the vision care community to make a donation or participate in a fundraising event to help fund sustainable eye health projects for people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired. This year will have a specific focus on the need for effective, sustainable eye health initiatives for children and adolescents as part of the Our Children’s Vision campaign.
 
 “We are grateful for the support that we receive and encourage all eye and vision care companies, networks, schools and practices to take the Challenge and make a donation so that we can help end avoidable blindness and give sight and hope to the millions of people—including children and adolescents—in need,” said Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight.
 
World Sight Day Challenge isn't just for big corporations to roll out big donations for a good cause. Everyone, from optometric practices and optical shops to patients, can get involved. For more information about the World Sight Day Challenge, or to make your donation, visit givingsight.org or call 888-OGS-GIVE.
 
What follows is an example of what some members of the coalition are doing to raise funds for various vision-related projects, and to raise awareness about Optometry Giving Sight and of the importance of eye health.
 
ABB OPTICAL GROUP is running a campaign for their customers and will donate 1% of all Digital Eye Lab sales for a five-week period leading up to and through World Sight Day. The staff will also participate in a variety of World Sight Day awareness activities.
 
Alcon Foundation is running its Cycle for Sight 20/20 Challenge. Reaching their goal of 2,020 Alcon participants across their sites will trigger a $25k donation to OGS. Many sites, including Australia, Singapore, UK, and US, are ready to ride. 
 
AllAboutVision will be conducting the week-long “Share for Sight” social media campaign to promote eye health and Optometry Giving Sight. This year, the Share for Sight campaign will feature a Twitter chat on October 13 at 2 p.m. (PT). Each social media share supports the World Sight Day Challenge.
 
Bausch + Lomb will kick off its World Sight Day fundraising efforts with an employee meeting showcasing the company’s recent outreach trip to Haiti as well as the positive impact of partnering and supporting Optometry Giving Sight. During the meeting, employees will be encouraged to participate in various fundraising opportunities through October. The company will also run a social media campaign to raise awareness of the importance of eye health in people’s lives. 
 
CooperVision, a Global Gold Sponsor of Optometry Giving Sight, is conducting its 5^th annual global “Fight for Sight” campaign, in which employees are encouraged to participate in fundraising events and activities organized at their local CooperVision sites. Employee donations will be matched by The Cooper Companies, CooperVision’s parent company. CooperVision also just announced it has signed on to be a gold sponsor for the next three years!
 
Essilor of America is partnering with the Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF) to host a Kids Vision Fest at its Dallas headquarters. More than 400 students will be bused in to receive eye exams and glasses. Essilor employees and local ODs will be volunteering throughout the day. In addition, all U.S.-based Essilor employees will be invited to make their own pledge to have an eye exam as part of the company’s Love to See Change challenge. Each pledge will generate a donation of $1 from Essilor in support of various vision related charities.
 
Essilor Group in Canada will launch multiple screening events and collect pledges across Canada with donations benefiting vision health initiatives for Canadian children in First Nations communities. 
 
Eyepromise will support multiple activities in September and October including employee initiatives and product promotions. It will also make a donation on behalf of the Arizona Fall League’s 2016 batting champion during the award presentation. 
 
FYidoctors and Vision Source clinics in Canada will undertake local and corporate fundraising initiatives throughout October. FYIdoctors “$1 dollar for every like” campaign begins October 1^st on Facebook and has received huge success in previous years. The company matches every dollar raised by their doctors and on their social media channels.
 
Vision Source is encouraging Member Support Center colleagues, administrators, VSRs, and members to take the challenge, with part of the proceeds to benefit the establishment of a School of Optometry in Haiti.
 
VSP Global will conduct an outreach event in New Orleans, with a focus on child eye health. Staff in its offices in Sacramento, Ohio, and New York are raising funds for a Travel Fellowship for international faculty to teach specialty topic(s) at the School of Optometry in Nicaragua.
  World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. It is coordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) as part of the VISION 2020 Global Initiative. It is supported by eye health organizations around the world—including Optometry Giving Sight—and is included on the official World Health Organization (WHO) calendar. 2016 is the fourth year of the WHO Global Action Plan which has the rolling theme: Universal Eye Health. This year, the call to action for World Sight Day is: Stronger Together. World Sight Day is Thursday, October 13^th.
 
Optometry Giving Sight is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error (URE) – simply the need for an eye examination and glasses. It was established in 2003 by the Brien Holden Vision Institute, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the World Council of Optometry, as a means of mobilizing support from the global vision care profession and industry to help eliminate the backlog of people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired – currently estimated at more than 600 million worldwide. It is a registered charity in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
 
Optometry Giving Sight funds the development of sustainable eye and vision care projects in communities where these do not currently exist. These projects focus on local training and capacity building; infrastructure development and the delivery of accessible and affordable vision care services.