Mission Trip Support Extends National Vision’s Impact Across the Globe
in Giving Back Hear from Our Doctors
As one of the largest optical companies in the United States, National Vision believes we have the responsibility to make the world a better place. Each day we live out our mission of ensuring that everyone has access to affordable and accessible eye care and eyewear so that they can see their best to live their best. Not only do we put this mission into practice in our own communities, but our philanthropic initiatives help us extend that impact across the globe.
For more than a decade, National Vision has been a proud supporter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity/International (VOSH) and Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (SVOSH) in providing free eye care and eyewear to people in need around the world. Our support includes donating frames, readers and sunglasses, as well as loaning or donating optometric equipment to volunteers.
Throughout 2023, National Vision contributed to 67 mission trips around the globe, including Guatemala, Tanzania, Romania, and many others in between. Volunteers conducted more than 65,000 free vision screenings and distributed nearly 18,000 pairs of reading glasses and over 6,300 pairs of sunglasses.
“Before you go, you have all these ideas and preconceptions of what you will see in rural Guatemala,” said Tomas, a VOSH volunteer. “What I did not expect came in the form of a girl in her early 20s on the last day at the Clinic. I found out she was a local nursing student who was struggling studying for tests because of her eyes. I had just finished spending two months studying for Boards not a week prior, so I knew all too well how much of a toll it takes on the eyes. I told her I knew exactly what was happening to her, and I knew exactly how to fix it. She immediately lit up with such an ecstatic, thankful happiness hearing that someone understood her and her struggle, and that it was nearing an end. Such emotion gave a hint at the degree of beneficial impact we would have on her life.”
While many of our donations go to mission trips organized through VOSH and SVOSH, we also support missions involving associates and optometrists in the National Vision Doctor of Optometry network.
For more information about how National Vision supports efforts to solve the global vision crisis, including our support of VOSH and SVOSH mission trips, read about our Philanthropy.