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Sandy Springs Brings Vision to Local Schools

The Rotary Club of Sandy Springs recently partnered with a national organization called Vision to Learn to provide nearly 800 pairs of glasses for students in Fulton County Schools based in Sandy Springs. Most recently, the club provided over 240 students at Sandy Springs Middle School with either the first glasses they've ever received or the only ones they have had on their own.

During the two-day delivery process, we heard many good stories from students. One of them was very telling, however. The child put on his glasses for the first time and quietly said, "Wow- I can see!"  It's something most of us take for granted, but for a student who had been struggling to see many things and read in class, that revelation was life-altering for him.

Vision to Learn was started in Northridge, California by Austin Beutner in 2012. Austin started the non-profit because he found out that so many children in Los Angeles-area schools were struggling in school, partly because they couldn't see the board or read clearly. The idea was to bring a vision clinic to the kids (or at Boys and Girls Clubs) access whether the children needed glasses and if so, to ultimately provide the kids with cost-free glasses for them to be able to see and do better in school and life.

As of 2022, Vision to Learn has visited 5000 schools and Boys and Girls Clubs around the United States - providing 350,000 children with glasses.  They currently have 50 mobile clinics and over 200 employees working for them.

Our club visited the Sandy Springs Middle School on December 8, 2022, and I've included one picture of that visit/delivery as an attachment.  (Note: the other picture is from October when we first presented the donation of $10000 to purchase the glasses.) We have more glasses to deliver in 2023 and will be working on that with Fulton County School Leadership during Q1.
Posted by Jay Brackman, Sr.
January 7, 2023

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