Elkhart Education Foundation
Kindness to Prevent Blindness St. Joe CountyElkhart Education Foundation
Kindness to Prevent Blindness St. Joe County
The Kindness to Prevent Blindness program (K2PB) provides free-of-charge medical eye exams and custom glasses to students in school systems throughout Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties. Working from the K2PB mobile eye lab, local ophthalmologists and optometrists donate their time traveling to individual schools, providing follow up care to students whose initial screenings indicated a need. In contrast to the estimated 40%-67% of students nationally who typically receive no follow up care after a school vision referral, custom glasses are made for and provided to every student needing them by Boling Vision Center staff and their partners.
The Elkhart Education Foundation submitted a grant request to help support eye-health and vision screenings, focusing on 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade students in St. Joseph County- the grades required by law to provide screenings. Our Judd Leighton Foundation (JLF) board was familiar with the K2PB’s past successes, as well as demonstrated links between corrected vision and increased student test scores, increased self-esteem and decreased behavioral problems. Given these benefits, the JLF joined with other like-minded organizations and supported this worthwhile grant request.
