Press Release
Local optometrists Dr. Bruce Lidkea and Dr. Robert Lidkea, of Lidkea Optometry Services, are taking the World Sight Day Challenge to help give sight to people in developing countries.
On World Sight Day (Thursday, Oct. 14), the pair will donate their eye exam fees to help provide eye exam and glasses to children who can’t see to learn at school and adults who can’t see to provide for their families.
“Optometry Giving Sight,” the organizer of the World Sight Day Challenge, funds programs that train local eye care professionals and develop vision centres which provide permanent 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 they need.
“I have supported ‘Optometry Giving Sight’ for many years, and am proud to support such a worthwhile cause,” said Dr. Bruce Lidkea.
“It’s easy to take vision care for granted here in Canada, so taking the World Sight Day Challenge is a great way to raise funds to give sight to people who don’t have access to the vision care my patients do,” he noted.
Dr. Lidkea was inspired to hear how nine-year-old Nlando’s first pair of glasses will help her see to learn at school.
Living in a township in South Africa, where the average family income is just $7 per day, education is the only real opportunity she has to escape the cycle of poverty she’s been born into.
By the end of 2010, “Optometry Giving Sight” aims to have committed $4 million, through its partners, to help provide eye exams and glasses to millions of people in need through sustainable programs.
The funds will be directed to projects in 17 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Dr. Lidkea invites his patients to make a donation at Lidkea Optometry Services during the month of 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.
To make an appointment, call 274-6655.
