Press Release
Local optometrists Dr. Robert Lidkea and Dr. Bruce Lidkea, of Lidkea Optometry on Scott Street, have joined the World Sight Day Challenge during October to help give the gift of vision to people in developing countries.
On World Sight Day (Oct. 13), Lidkea Optometry donated their eye exam fees to help provide eye exams and glasses to children in developing countries who can’t see well enough to learn at school, as well as adults who don’t see well enough to provide for their families.
“Optometry Giving Sight,” the organizer of the World Sight Day Challenge, funds programs that provide eye exams and glasses, trains local eye care professionals, and develops vision centres that deliver long-term vision care to people in desperate need.
There are 670 million people who are blind or vision-impaired simply because they don’t have access to an eye examination and glasses.
“I have supported ‘Optometry Giving Sight’ for several years and am proud to donate to such a worthwhile cause,” said Dr. Bruce Lidkea.
“It’s easy for us to take good vision for granted, so taking the World Sight Day Challenge is a great way to raise funds to help people who don’t have access to even basic vision care,” he added.
Dr. Lidkea was inspired by stories like that of 18-year-old Donglian from a rural province of China.
Although her blurred vision stopped her from seeing the blackboard, she hadn’t told her teacher as she didn’t want to make a fuss.
Caring for her mentally ill father and working the family’s farmland for four hours each day before school, Donglian couldn’t afford an eye exam.
Thanks to a visit from a team of newly-trained local eye care professionals and a pair of glasses, Donglian now has the opportunity to fulfill the potential she already has shown in her young life.
Donations will enable “Optometry Giving Sight” to fund more sustainable programs that provide eye exams and glasses to millions of people in need.
Raised funds will be directed to projects in 16 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Just $5 can provide an eye examination and a pair of glasses for someone in a developing country.
Lidkea Optometry also is inviting their patients to make a donation at their practice throughout October.
“Optometry Giving Sight” guarantees that 85 percent of all funds raised by optometrists and their patients go directly to programs that give sight to those most in need.
