Canadian Sight-Saving Organizations Receive Support Through Transitions® Healthy Sight for Life Fund
Renewed CNIB Alliance Fuels National Public Education Programs, While ORBIS Canada Grant Extends Global Sight Preservation Efforts
Cambridge, Ontario – Through its Transitions® Healthy Sight for Life Fund, Transitions Optical, Inc. continues to aid vision-related charities in Canada, recently awarding a second annual grant to CNIB and providing a one-time donation to ORBIS Canada. The partnership with CNIB will raise awareness about the need to protect the eyes from UV damage and expand vision-loss prevention programs, while funding for ORBIS Canada will go towards establishing eye care centers in medically underserved areas of Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India and Vietnam.
“With our common goals and dedication to eye health, we are looking forward to mobilizing and intensifying support for those who can benefit most,” said Christine Underhill, business manager, Canada, Transitions. “We are confident that the charities we’ve chosen to assist will have a far-reaching impact on healthy sight in the future – both in Canada and other parts of the world.”
CNIB Partnership
The national grant awarded to CNIB, whose mission is to promote vision health and enhance independence for people with vision loss, is made possible by consumer and eyecare professional participation in Transitions Optical’s national promotion. Transitions has pledged a $1 donation for every pair of Transitions® lenses registered using the Transitions Certificate of Authenticity, up to $25,000. In Quebec, donations will be made to the Eye Disease Foundation (Fondation des maladies de l’oeil).
The contributions will go toward CNIB’s efforts to expand vision loss education and prevention programs. A collaboration among Transitions Optical, CNIB and Scholastic – a distributor of children’s books – will reach over 10,000 Ontario teachers of grades four to six through distribution of teaching materials, classroom exercises and parent take-home information, which highlight the importance of eye health and UV protection. The program runs in October in conjunction with Canada’s Eye Health Month.
“We at CNIB are looking forward to discovering new ways that our continuing partnership with Transitions can build the vital services that we provide,” said Tim Alcock, managing director, Marketing and Communications, CNIB. “Transitions’ generous contribution will once again help us to fulfill our goal of raising awareness among Canadians through public education programs.”
ORBIS Canada Partnership
In addition to national charity grants, one-time grants through the Transitions Healthy Sight for Life Fund are also available to eyecare professionals and optical laboratories, as well as local non-profit, not-for-profit or volunteer groups and associations.
ORBIS Canada, the first Canadian organization to be chosen for a community grant, works to prevent blindness in developing countries by enhancing the skills of the local ophthalmic community so that they are better equipped to treat and prevent eye diseases prevalent in rural communities. This grant will support the organization’s initiatives in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India and Vietnam, a joint effort with the Ministry of Health, to help hundreds of thousands of blind children.
“ORBIS Canada’s mission to eliminate preventable blindness matches perfectly with the goals of the Transitions Healthy Sight for Life Fund,” said Daniella Bianchi, manager, ORBIS Canada. “We promote healthy sight on a global scale, but do our work on a community level to help those in need. These efforts truly perpetuate the healthy sight message that Transitions has embraced.”
Community grant proposals are accepted and awarded on a rolling basis. Information about how to apply for community grants is available in the “For Professionals” section of the Fund’s Web site, www.HealthySightforLife.org.
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As a part of its Transitions® Healthy Sight for Life Fund, Transitions Optical, Inc. has renewed its national affiliation with CNIB and awarded its first one-time grant to a Canadian organization, ORBIS Canada.
NOTE: For high-resolution versions of these images, please contact Lauren Appel at (412) 456-4301 or lauren.appel@eurorscg.com.