You can be a life changer!
If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to take the free Eye Pledge and help direct a free eye exam and glasses, donated by VSP Vision Care on your behalf, to a Boys and Girls Club child in need in your local community. Then please share and encourage others to join us in helping to remove the need for 50,000 children and their parents to make a decision between sight and other family essentials.

More than 10,000 children have received the gift of sight, help us reach 40,000 more!

Several weeks ago, VSP^® Vision Care and Boys & Girls Club of America announced the free VSP Eye Pledge campaign to provide 50,000 Boys & Girls Club members in need with access to free eye exams and glasses worth more than $19 million. We recently hit the 10,000 mark!  This means that 10,000 kids across the country will now perform better in and out of school due to their free eye exams and glasses. With 10,000 down, we have 40,000 more to go!

Readers like you can help by simply going to www.seemuchmore.com/eyepledge!  You can choose to donate a free exam and glasses to your local club or the club with the most the need.

The VSP Eye Pledge is completely free and is as simple as these steps:

• Go to www.seemuchmore.com/eyepledge
• Pledge to take care of your eye health, which is an integral part of your overall health
• Direct the donation to either the local club of your choice (by inserting your zip code) or the club in the U.S. with the most need
• Share with your friends and family to help impact even more children in need in your community

Check out this clip to see how your support of the VSP Eye Pledge has already made a positive impact in two children’s lives.

Gail V scouts optical styles, trends and brand breakthroughs for eyeconic.com.

Whether I’m cheering on my friend’s kids in peewee football or heading downtown to root for my favorite pros, I make sure my eyes look good, feel comfortable, and will stay healthy.

Yes, I love styling up my look with the latest shades. It’s such an easy way to score fashion points! But I also know how important it is to protect my eyes from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Hey, I put on sun block every day, so why wouldn’t I do my eyes the same favor? The effect of UV rays on the eyes is cumulative and I don’t want to have eye problems down the road.

Now, this may not be the best argument to make with your kids as they’re heading out to the next home football game. They can’t see the effects of sun damage on their eyes the way they can see what sunburn does to their skin.

But you don’t have to try and get kids to think long term! Just tell them they’ll look way cooler in the latest shades. And would they want to miss seeing the game-winning catch because they were squinting through the glare? Of course not! And while that may be their only focus, you can rest easy knowing they’re reducing their risk of damaging their corneas or developing other problems later in life, like cataracts.

Just tell them to check out the latest looks in sunwear at eyeconic.com. They can virtually try-on tons of styles, let our personal shoppers help them zero in on the best look, and find a nearby VSP doctor that carries their faves.

Who knew shopping for shades could be so good for you?

1 Eye Pledge = 1 VSP Gift Certificate for a Child in need

Go to SeeMuchMore.com and take the Eye Pledge in just three easy steps:

-   Select the Eye Pledge that’s right for you
-   Direct a free VSP eye exam and glasses gift certificate a Boys & Girls Club of your choice
-   Share your pledge to help spread the word and help us reach our goal!

Check out this video featuring BGCA discussing the importance of the campaign and the impact it will have to help children reach their full potential.

For more information about the VSP Eye Pledge campaign and to take the pledge, please visit www.SeeMuchMore.com.  The site also includes an interactive, virtual savings calculator to learn about savings with VSP vision benefits, allows users to browse the latest eyewear styles, and provides helpful information about healthy vision.

Check out the newest Envision Newsetter!

We’ve written about how eye doctors can detect signs of diabetes during an eye exam, but did you know they can also identify flu-like symptoms? This and tips on how to make your kid’s glasses last is all in this month’s edition of the EnVision newsletter.

Every month, Envision readers have the opportunity to win a prize, and this month one lucky reader will win a cruise, for two!

Click here to view the embedded video.

After viewing the video, vote for the clinic name and be entered to win an HD Flip Cam!

Today, more than 50 pre-screened students from Azalea Elementary located in Pinellas County are the first to benefit from the new clinic. The evaluation process for students grades K-5 included initial screenings by Prevent Blindness Florida. Students who failed the screenings will be given comprehensive examinations in the clinic, staffed by VSP eye doctors. For students requiring prescription lenses, VSP and Transitions Optical will provide the students with complimentary eyewear fitted with Transitions® lenses.

A student of Azalea Elementary School was the first patient and is wearing the first glasses made on board the clinic in the finishing lab!

This partnership marks another milestone in furthering the efforts of the VSP Mobile Eyes® Program. What started as an extension of relief efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the program features two mobile eyecare clinics, each with two comprehensive exam rooms and full eyeglass dispensaries, which respond to disasters and assist people in need in communities throughout the U.S. The new clinic will be the third clinic in the fleet and has the unique feature of a finishing lab featuring full-service lens finishing equipment, donated by Santinelli International, providing patients with glasses on-site.

Rob Lynch, CEO of VSP Global and Dave Cole, Managing Director of Transitions Optical, unveil the new mobile clinic at Transitions headquarters in Pinellas Park, FL.

Here’s what VSP Global’s CEO Rob Lynch said about today’s events:

“Transitions and VSP both have a strong commitment to supporting the community and helping people see better. By leveraging the strength of our two organizations, and in partnership with our 26,000 private practice eye doctors, we will be able to extend our reach even further to help more people in need!”

For the Monterey County Office of Education’s first VSP Mobile Eyes event we were able to provide services to over 55 children and youth in need — in the future we’ll shoot for over 100!

VSP Mobile Clinics Operations Manager, Niki M., with a patient in his shades after his eyes were dilated.

During the three day outreach event, the clinic visited three school districts in Monterey County, including Greenfield Union, Sta. Rita Union and Salinas City Union. The young patients entered the clinic with excitement and gratitude, especially after they had the opportunity to select their frames from popular brands like Disney & Coach!

One of the students picking out his frames with VSP Mobile Clinic Operations Managers, Kim R., and Monterey County Migrant Program partner, Isabel.

It was a pleasure partnering with the team at VSP.  Kim R., Niki M., and Vicki A. are a great team to work with, and I want to give a big  thank you to our local VSP optometrists – Dr. Sylvia Lee, Dr. Brett Fredericks, Dr. William Kadell, and Dr. Catherine Winters – who enthusiasticly volunteered their time to provide eye exams to the kids.

VSP Volunteer, Vicki A., Dr. William Kadell, Kim R. and Niki M.

Now that the students who needed glasses will receive them, I feel they will definitely show an improvement in their language arts and math achievement this year as they can see with much more clarity and precision!

We look forward to VSP Mobile Eyes visiting our area again.  What a great service VSP offers to the community!!! 

Rob T. is a member of VSP's Sales Team

Rob T. in  VSP’s Hawaii Sales Office shares some recent events VSP participated in with the Hawaii Optometric Association.

If you were out in Hawaii recently, the Children’s Discovery Center in Honolulu was the place to be as VSP partnered with the Hawaii Optometric Association (HOA) to take part in two great community events that brought the importance of vision awareness and fun together.

On September 27, 2009, VSP and HOA hosted “Be Wise To Your Eyes” day. In its second year, the event emphasized the importance of an annual eye exam which parents took to heart after their children participated in free vision screenings by our volunteering doctors.

Then on October 30, 2009, VSP and HOA put on costumes for the Keiki (Child) Costume Ball, passing out VSP school supplies to hundreds of children attending the event. While children showed off their creative costumes, VSP and HOA offered an opportunity to have the children imagine themselves as the “doctor” behind a phoropter. What looks better, one or two? … there might have been a future doctor in the crowd.

VSP provider Weslie Hamada, OD (left) and a colleague pose with kids and VSP school kits.

Click for more information about the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center, and be sure to visit the sports vision exhibit when you have a chance to visit.