Grant winner Terrance Powers and family.
SHARON, PA.—Eyes of Faith Optical, along with the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists and Sight Ministries, have awarded a Nevada optician a $3,000 grant to join the Sight Ministries team on a mission trip to Kenya in October 2012. An anonymous grant will fund the attendance of another optician while a third is raising her own funds to attend.

The grant was awarded to Terrance Powers, a 20-year optician who works at Valley Eyecare in Carson City, Nevada. Powers has seven children, five of them recently adopted. He said he was worried his wife might not be able to manage with him out of the country but that, “she is 100 percent supportive, as are all the kids.”

“Terrance is a very deserving winner of this award,” said Jim Schneider, Eyes of Faith president and co-founder. “We need experienced opticians for these types of trips and the response has been overwhelming.”

“I definitely feel called,” Powers wrote in his letter of application. “As an optician, I am passionate about my profession and helping people see.”

During a trip to Kenya last October, Eyes of Faith and Sight Ministries provided eye exams and delivered eyeglasses, reading glasses, and sunglasses to more 1,000 people. Eyes of Faith was invited by Sight Ministries, which provides eyecare to people in need all over the world.

Two other opticians will join Powers on the Kenya trip. Marcia Emerson of Dublin, Ohio, was awarded an anonymous grant to help fund a portion of the expenses. Karen Hayes of Mount Airy, N.C., will raise her own funds through dinners and other events.

Sight Ministries partners with missionaries and indigenous pastors to conduct multiple eye clinics in local communities worldwide. At the clinics, they conduct eye exams and provide prescription glasses, reading glasses, and sunglasses at little or no cost to recipients.

Eyes of Faith donates a portion of all gross sales to global, faith-based charities, and partners with Sight Ministries to provide a new, complete pair of glasses to someone in need for every Eyes of Faith eyewear purchase. The brand expanded their reach with the 2011 release of VeggieTales Eyewear for Children, which received an overwhelmingly positive response at both Vision Expos, and a licensing agreement with Not of This World Clothing and Accessories, one of the most recognized Christian brands worldwide.  ■