Good vision is essential for students of all ages to reach their full academic potential. According to a national study, 60% of students with learning difficulties and 70% of juvenile delinquents have undetected vision problems. Other studies have confirmed that academic successes increase and behavioral problems decrease when children have corrected vision.
The Kindness to Prevent Blindness (K2PB) program provides medical eye exams and distributes eyeglasses to students throughout Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties through a mobile eye clinic owned by the Elkhart Education Foundation (EEF) and operated by Boling Vision Center. Staffed by ophthalmologists and optometrists who donate their time for the exams, Kindness to Prevent Blindness provided over 600 pairs of eyeglasses to students from 18 different schools in the 2018-2019 school year.
The EEF submitted a grant request to help expand this pilot program to the John Glenn School Corporation, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation, South Bend Community Schools, and School City of Mishawaka. Given the demonstrated first year success of the program, and the Foundation’s stated mission to improve the quality of life in our community through investment in worthy healthcare and educational initiatives, we were happy to support their request.
