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Boys & Girls Clubs of America &
VSP Celebrate
Decade Long Partnership
“Sight for Students” Helps 500,000th Child
Atlanta – March 11, 2009 – Boys & Girls Clubs of America
(BGCA) has joined VSP® to celebrate the 500,000th
child helped since the inception of the company’s Sight for Students®
program launched in 1997. The program has funded almost $100 million in free
eye care and eyewear for low-income, uninsured and underinsured children.
Sight for Students started as part of VSP’s commitment to
America’s Promise Alliance, the nation’s largest partnership network working
to improve the lives of America’s young people founded by General Colin
Powell in 1997. VSP’s Sight for Students program offers qualified families
with vouchers to visit one of their 25,000 network doctors who provide
comprehensive eye exams, identify vision issues and prescribe glasses during
their visit.
“This is a significant milestone for us because investing in
the community is at the heart of VSP’s mission as a company,” said VSP
President and CEO Rob Lynch. “More than 94 percent of the children who have
these exams need and receive free prescription glasses. This underscores the
important role that Sight for Students serves for children who lack access
to eye care. And we are grateful for partners like Boys & Girls Clubs of
America in helping us reach this important goal.”
According to a recent nationwide study, more than 76 percent of American
children under the age of five have never received a comprehensive eye exam
and one in four kids in every classroom has vision problems.
“My son had been complaining for several months about severe
headaches that had affected his ability to study for tests at school or
successfully shoot the basketball,” said Kristi Moniz at the Boys & Girls
Club in Oregon. “A week after the eye exam and receipt of his glasses, the
headaches were gone, he was feeling much better and of course, the fact that
his shooting average had gone up dramatically made him very happy.”
VSP works with non-profit community organizations to deliver
Sight for Students eyecare including Boys & Girls Clubs of America,
Communities in Schools, Head Start, National Association of School Nurses,
Prevent Blindness America and YMCA of the USA.
“VSP has given thousands of Boys & Girls Club members the
opportunity to succeed by providing vision screenings and eyewear,” said
BGCA President and CEO Roxanne Spillett. “The Sights for Students campaign
is proof positive of the good that can be done, when we decide that every
child deserves access to hope and opportunity.”
In 2008, VSP's Charitable Programs provided 171,420 vouchers
for Sight for Students, Mobile Clinic Exams/Vouchers, and American Red Cross
vouchers. More than half of VSP’s charitable efforts support the Sight for
Students program.
For more information about Sight for Students, including
Spanish translated materials, please visit
www.vsp.com/community.
About Boys & Girls Clubs of America
For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America has been helping kids
"Be Great", providing hope and opportunity for those who need it most.
Today, some 4,300 Clubs serve some 4.8 million young people through Club
membership and community outreach. Known as The Positive Place for Kids,
Boys & Girls Clubs can be found all across the country and on U.S. military
bases throughout the world, providing young people 6-18 years old with
guidance-oriented character development programs conducted by trained,
professional staff. In communities large and small, Clubs positively impact
lives and help young people reach their full potential as productive, caring
citizens. Key programs emphasize leadership development; education and
career exploration; community service; technology training; financial
literacy; health and life skills; the arts; sports, fitness and recreation;
and family outreach. In a recent Harris Survey of Club alumni, 57 percent
said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in
Atlanta.
About the VSP Family of Companies
VSP®’s family of companies includes the largest
not-for-profit vision benefits and services company in the United States
with 55 million members; VSP Labs, industry leaders in new technologies,
production processes, service and logistics; Marchon® Eyewear
Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers, designers and distributors
of quality fashion and technologically-advanced eyewear and sunwear,
distributing its products to more than 100,000 customer locations in more
than 100 countries; Eyefinity®/Officemate® which offer
innovative solutions and the premier management software and technology to
improve overall practice management and the patient experience.
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