Vision Spring receives support from the Optical Industry

[Paul Farkas]

A Press release on 6/11/11...


"VisionSpring Launches 2011 Eye Care Leadership Council

June 1, 2011 12:21 AM

NEW YORK – VisionSpring has announced the launch of its 2011 Eye Care Leadership Council, an exclusive members-only group of optical companies who actively support and enhance VisionSpring’s work to deliver affordable eyeglasses to communities in need.

“The Council creates great synergy between the optical industry and the social service community. As a group, we increase awareness of the opportunities and challenges in serving ‘base of the pyramid’ consumers in the developing world and Council members provide both thought-leadership and resources to help VisionSpring develop a sustainable business model to serve the eyeglass needs of the poor,” commented Jordan Kassalow, OD, founder and CEO of VisionSpring. “By dedicating their time, resources and expertise, Council members are the forefront of their industry, broadening access and availability of optometric products and services in the developing world.”

Members of VisionSpring’s 2011 Council include National Vision and Premiere Vision at the Gold Level; CIBA Vision, Classic Optical Labs, ClearVision Optical, Essilor, Luxottica, REM, Transitions Optical, Carl Zeiss Vision, and Zyloware are participating at the Silver Level. Additional partners include The Vision Council as event sponsor and the Jobson Optical Group, as exclusive industry media partner. Benefits of Council membership include attendance at an elite round‐table discussions, thought-leadership events and webinars, and recognition on VisionSpring website and industry publications.

VisionSpring is an award-winning social enterprise that delivers affordable, high-quality eyeglasses in the developing world. VisionSpring’s innovative models build local capacity by training sales agents to educate consumers and sell glasses in impoverished communities in eight countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. To date, VisionSpring has provided over 600,000 glasses to individuals in need. VisionSpring has been internationally recognized by The Skoll Foundation, The Aspen Institute, and The World Bank. President Bill Clinton has said that VisionSpring’s work will “help hundreds of thousands of people and in the process create a whole new sector of the economy.”

In the interest of full disclosure: Jordan Kassalow,OD,MPH founder and CEO of VisionSpring is an active partner in my former practice Drs. Farkas,Kassalow, Resnick and Associates PC....
www.eyewise.com.

[Paul Farkas]

the most resent newsletter for those interested on VisionSpring impact in developing countries...http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/7...81/439f0ee4d7/

[Steven Nelson]

Awesome, Dr Badpenny shows up again. Way to keep an unpopular topic current.

[Paul Farkas]

To see the complete segment shown on ABC Good Morning America on 6/26/11...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/visions...ry?id=13930555