Offering a New World With Glasses

At Kappa V Middle School in Brownsville, Brooklyn, educators like Principal Ronda Phillips, Ph.D are committed to really making a difference in students’ lives.

“One of the reasons I got into this profession was to help others. I see the things that are not accessible to a lot of students and I try to bring that as a principal into this building,” she explains. Enter the Tzu Chi Medical Foundation’s Vision Mobile Service.

By providing students with free eye exams, frames, and prescription lenses in same-day service, students and their families are saving hundreds of dollars on otherwise costly vision care.

“There are situations where the children and the ones that I’ve seen today, they have broken their eyeglasses, and their insurance coverage does not kick in until either next year or maybe a few months later,” Dr. James Cheung of Tzu Chi’s Vision Mobile says.

But, for a young person to be able to see the board clearly, their chance at success in the classroom—and confidence—only gets better with the right glasses.

“It’s a different world behind these glasses,” Principal Phillips says; “They’re able to see, they’re able to read, they’re able to do other things. So, yes, absolutely—it’s a blessing for them.”

Keep watching and support our mission to help more students succeed in school—and in life—at https://donate.tzuchi.us/cause/medical