LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.—National Vision, parent of America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses and other retail brands, is kicking off a new not-for-profit foundation—Frames For The World—as a spinoff of its previous philanthropic efforts.
Reade Fahs, National Vision’s president and chief executive officer, said the foundation was established to fill the need for low-cost, good-quality frames in optical clinics and eye hospitals in poor and developing countries.
Frames For The World is encouraging eyewear manufacturers and optical retailers to donate new frames. The foundation will pre-qualify eligible clinics and hospitals to ensure their not-for-profit status, that they primarily serve the poor, that donated frames will enhance those institutions’ ability to serve the poor, and that the frames will not be sold to any for-profit or black market entity.
Fahs said, “Our efforts to help provide access to affordable glasses in some of the poorest parts of Latin America have put us in touch with several impressive and inspirational clinics and eye hospitals. It is our hope that Frames For The World will become one component part of the tapestry of models and solutions that will be required to bring vision to the world’s poor.”
He told VM the frames will be distributed to those in need through the selected institutions’ existing infrastructures, adding, “We expect to give each recipient 1,000 frames or more, depending on donations.”
The first recipient of donated frames will be the Instituto De La Vision in Montemoreles, Mexico, an ophthalmological hospital serving the poor that is associated with the University of Montemoreles.
“We believe hundreds of thousands of new frames are destroyed worldwide each year because they have not found their sales channel,” Fahs noted. “With Frames For The World, we hope to put them to good use.”
Manufacturers and other organizations with new frames to donate can contact the new foundation at
reade@nationalvision.com.
■
■