Give the Gift of Sight, a Luxottica Group charitable foundation, is a family of charitable programs providing free vision care and eyewear to underprivileged individuals in North America and developing countries around the world. Since the program’s inception in 1988, Give the Gift of Sight has helped more than five million people across five continents, including hundreds of communities in North America.
The Group understands the dramatic change that one pair of eyeglasses can make in a person's
life. Around the world, in developing and industrialized countries alike, millions of people suffer from
poor vision because they do not have access to eye care or they simply cannot afford it. Poor vision
impedes a child's ability to learn in school and robs an adult of independence, mobility and quality
of life. Give the Gift of Sight was founded with the belief that clear vision is a basic right, not a luxury.
Give the Gift of Sight has been woven into Luxottica Group’s culture by harnessing its vision care
expertise and empowering associates and optometrists to volunteer their time to offer their expertise
to those in need. Each year, Give the Gift of Sight volunteers and optometrists, in partnership with
Lions Clubs International members, provide eye exams and hand deliver recycled eyewear to
underprivileged individuals in developing countries around the world. These two-week missions,
staffed by 25 optometrists and volunteers, are each designed to help nearly 30,000 people. Since
1991, there have been more than 115 optical missions to 28 developing countries providing the gift
of sight to more than five million people.
The target of the current Give the Gift of Sight program is to help seven million people by 2008.
Every year, the program offers free eye exams and new eyeglasses to tens of thousands of people in the United States and Canada. Since its beginnings in 1988, Give the Gift of Sight has helped around three million adults and children in North America.
Luxottica Group-affiliated optometrists and volunteers provide in-store help to recipients identified by charity organizations as being in financial and vision need in their stores. Other work is done through community outreach. The Group-affiliated opticians, ophthalmologists and volunteers may assist recipients in nursing homes, shelters, schools or see them in specially-fitted Vision Vans or through other programs. Another type of aid involves distributing vouchers enabling the needy to receive discounts or free eyewear.
Eyewear distributed on Give the Gift of Sight international missions are collected in Luxottica Group stores, through Lions Clubs and community organizations. Every pair of glasses is checked, cleaned and repaired by Group employees and entered in an inventory management database, which gives volunteers greater accuracy and efficiency in distribution.
* The photographs of the Gift of Sight missions in this Annual Report were taken by Lyons Photography, Inc.
Give the Gift of Sight started in 1988 with the belief that “vision is not a luxury, but the right of every human being.” Originally operating as part of LensCrafters, it gradually expanded its reach across North America and internationally. Luxottica Group’s acquisition of LensCrafters in 1995 enabled the program to expand more rapidly by including the other entities of the Group. In 2004, the “Recycle Huts” program by Sunglass Hut, another of the Group’s chains, helped collect sunglasses which were recycled for international missions, especially in regions where direct exposure to sunlight is particularly harmful to the eyes.
The Foundation’s original goal of helping one million people by 2003 was achieved ahead of schedule in 1999, when a mobile facility in Oregon gave a pair of eyeglasses to a six-year-old girl named Jessica. In 2001, in Bolivia, Julia became the two millionth person to receive eye care from Give the Gift of Sight. The three millionth person to receive help was Gabriel, a boy in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 2003. In 2005, Give the Gift of Sight helped its four millionth recipient, a 14-year-old girl at the Fresh Air Fund Camp in Fishkill, New York. In October 2006, the five millionth recipient, LaVonte, an 11-yearold boy from a Chicago Public School, received eye care during the course of a mission in the city of Chicago. In the same year, a third recycling center in the United States was opened.
Several other important achievements in 2006 were: in Mexico, there have been 35 missions since 1994, reaching 615,291 people; in China there have been two missions since 1999, involving 24,000 people; and in Cambodia, there have been two missions since 2005, benefiting 53,000 people. In 2007, the vision of Gift of Sight is 20/20: to deliver the gift of sight on 20 international missions and in 20 weeks of North American missions.
Give the Gift of Sight ties together Luxottica Group associates across the globe. Associates from Italy and elsewhere in Europe, Australia, China and North America work together, through recycling efforts and international mission teams, toward a common goal. During this process, associates get to know one another and learn to work together. This is an integrating influence on the different company and country cultures brought into the Group through acquisitions of companies.
Meeting people from different parts of the world and visiting different countries provide experiences that training courses do not offer. People learn to recognize and appreciate new languages, foods, customs and unusual situations. They form relationships and learn that diversity may unite rather than divide. These missions, particularly the international ones, require intense teamwork to optimize the use of resources and time and reach as many people as possible.
In 2006, Give the Gift of Sight provided care to 753,207 people worldwide, up 13% from 2005. Over 404,000 people received eye exams or a pair of recycled eyeglasses during the year’s 16 missions: Mexico (six missions), Panama (one), Romania (one), Ecuador (one), China (one), Honduras (two), Paraguay (two), Mali (one, the first in Africa, for 29,000 people) and Cambodia (one). In North America, care was provided to 349,144 people: 72,493 were in stores and with discount vouchers (free or heavily-discounted eyeglasses), 207,883 people were helped in nurseries, schools and health care fairs, 12,702 people were examined in Vision Vans, 19,876 were helped during missions, 36,190 people were assisted on Hometown Days and 998,340 pairs of glasses were recycled.
Alongside Give the Gift of Sight, Luxottica Group is engaged, through its Asia-Pacific retail structure, in the Community I-Care program, which has been in Australia since 2003 and in New Zealand, beginning in 2007. Community I-Care was established in 1978 by the OPSM Foundation of the former OPSM Group. Its primary aim is to support research into eye-related health issues. This program reflects the Group’s values and commitment to stakeholders in supporting vision-related causes and assisting communities in remote locations by providing free eye exams, prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses in Australia. Community I-Care’s objective is also to offer the Group employees the chance to use their skills to participate in humanitarian causes that reflect Luxottica Group’s values and commitment. In 2006, many of the Group’s partners in the Australian optical industry joined the Community I-Care, which enabled the program to extend its activities.
Vision Vouchers. In 2006, all Australian optical stores were given the chance to take part in Community I-Care through the launch of Vision Vouchers, an initiative enabling store managers to supply free glasses to customers who are unable to afford them.
Croc Festival. In 2003, the Group started collaborating with Croc Festival, a series of events organized every year by Indigenous Festivals of Australia. Croc Festival events take place in various communities in Australia and bring together young people to learn about health, education, careers, art, entertainment, culture and sports. The objective is to enable young people in remote rural areas to take part in workshops and other activities that will stimulate them to live healthier lives and help them in their schooling choices. As a partner in these events, Community I-Care selects and gives full eye exams to the participating students. Eyeglasses with new frames and prescriptions are distributed free of charge to those who need them.
Salvation Army. Cooperation with the Salvation Army started in mid-2005 with the establishment of a new program developed by Community I-Care and implemented for the first time in Australia. The program’s aim, as expressed in its statement of intent, is to help people in Australia who cannot afford or do not have access to eye care. Thanks to the range of the Salvation Army’s operations, the program has been successful in supplying eye care and glasses to Australians in the most diverse places.
Pika Wiya. Eyecare for Aborigines is one of the Croc Festival’s program’s declared aims. In Port Augusta, this project is carried forward in collaboration with the Southern Australian Aboriginal Health Service. Community I-Care is a partner in this program, guaranteeing care in the form of regular eye exams and supplying eyeglasses. The Group’s optometrists and suppliers participate in five trips per year to support the current program.
In 2007, Community I-Care will expand in New Zealand by launching a Salvation Army voucher program and distributing Vision Vouchers to all optical store managers. Following the successful cooperation with the Salvation Army in Australia, a similar collaboration effort has been planned with Mission Australia, another major Australian charity, and was launched in March 2007.
The Group plans to provide free eyeglasses to The KIDS Foundation, which supports the families of children who have suffered burns. These vouchers may be distributed to families and their children according to their needs. Aboriginal Health programs are continuing to cooperate with health authorities in other parts of Australia. In addition to collaboration with Give the Gift of Sight in at least three international programs, Community I-Care is working with an eye care group in Myanmar, Burma to locate and assist blind or seriously sight-impaired children. Other opportunities to expand programs beyond where the Group currently operates are under consideration.