(L to R) Among those at NASDAQ are Reade Fahs, VisionSpring chairman/CEO National Vision, Reed Gudwin, VisionSpring CEO Ella Gudwin, Jordan Kassalow, OD, VisionSpring vice chair and founder, Nancy Rosenzweig, VisionSpring board member.
  
NEW YORK—Broadcasting its vision care access message to global news outlets and via giant multiple screens facing Manhattan's Times Square here, executives and associates of VisionSpring, along with representative of several  global partner organizations around the world, rang the closing bell of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange here last week. The event served to help VisionSpring, marking its 20th year, celebrate several achievements including the recent record-setting gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, which VMAIL reported last month and the launch of its Livelihoods in Focus to address the massive vision care gap among agricultural and artisan workers in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In her speech from the NASDAQ headquarters, addressing a global audience of potential additional corporate partners, VisionSpring CEO Ella Gudwin, "At VisionSpring we have screened the vision of more than a half million of your apparel, textile and artisan workers. 30 percent of them are creating your products with uncorrected blurry vision.

In agriculture, 85 percent of farmers and tea, coffee and cocoa workers who need eye glasses do not have them to harvest, sort quality grades and engage in mobile banking. And you will be terrified to know about the 25 percent of truck drivers who we serve through in our vision access programs are failing to meet the visual acuity requirements for their driver’s license. But unlike many problems today.

 
 VisionSpring shared its recent accomplishments ringing the closing NASDAQ bell last week, with many key partners dedicated to advancing vision access around the world.
  
"This one is solvable—with a 700 year old technology, eyeglasses. You can put your glasses back on, Gudwin added. "Glasses are simple, affordable, and scalable and they have an extraordinary return on investment. Our gold standard studies show eyeglasses increase productivity and income by as much as a third. If you are looking for a productivity hack and a way to improve worker’s livelihoods and well-being eyeglasses are it."

Gudwin pointed out, "When you put a philanthropic dollar to work through VisionSpring’s social enterprise models, each dollar unlocks $43 of income earning potential for glasses wearers. As an investor, you’d take that return all day long.

To date, we have corrected the vision of nearly 10 million people living on less than $4 per day. As a result, we have created more than $2 billion dollars in economic returns into low income communities. VisionSpring is a proud impact unicorn."


The ringing of the Closing Bell at NASDAQ reaches millions of viewers worldwide.
  
In addition to other VisionSpring executives, staff and board members, the organization invited other partners in the fight advocating for improved access to eyeglasses and vision care around the world to the event on the NASDAQ stage, among these representatives of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Warby Parker, National Vision, Inc., the Salk School, Unlock Her Potential and the EYEallianc, the IAPB and others at the session which took place a little more than a week after World Sight Day 2022.

To date, VisionSpring has provided 8.7 million consumers with the corrective eyeglasses they need to sustain productivity, livelihoods, enhance learning outcomes and overall quality of life. As a result, a cumulative $1.8 billion in increased earning potential has been created at the household level, the organization said.