LAS VEGAS—With a $1 million gift from Elaine Wynn, wife of the owner of the Wynn Hotel, optician Joseph G. Carbone put his philanthropic eyecare model, EyeCare4Kids, on wheels to help the children of Las Vegas. The showroom-fresh mobile eye-care unit, outfitted with donated Tomey diagnostic equipment and a board of donated frames from companies such as Tortoise & Blonde, was unveiled in July 2014 at the Boys & Girls Clubs in Las Vegas. It also made an appearance at Vision Expo West in September 2014 (pictured).

Carbone began his journey to help children see better in 2001 when he started EyeCare4Kids in a 6,000-square-foot clinic in Midvale, Utah, running it side by side with his optometric practice. By 2006, he had closed his practice and mortgaged his house to focus solely on EyeCare4Kids, which had already started venturing beyond its home base to help other children in need, such as those on Navajo reservations in Southeastern Utah and at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange County, Calif.

With a $25,000 donation from Nevada State Bank, EyeCare4Kids agreed to come to Southern Nevada in 2012 to provide free eyeglasses to low-income school children, and between July 2013 and June 2014, the organization completed 4,000 exams and distributed 1,500 free pairs of eyeglasses to needy children. The following month, with Wynn’s generous donation, EyeCare4Kids unveiled its mobile unit.

While Carbone has received national media attention for his efforts, appearing in People magazine and on NBC News, he remains humble, remembering his childhood days, as Harry Smith of NBC described: “Joe was a poor kid who got in trouble and hated school until he got a pair of eyeglasses.”