Vision Day 2015 at Mission Arlington^®‘s Medical Clinic with Visionworks.  Here, a technician screens 17 year old Alberto to see what the next best steps should be.

In partnership with Visionworks and six local optometrists, and just in time for the start of school, 91 children and youth had their vision tested at our medical clinic this past Saturday, August 15th.  As it turns out, 80 percent those screened needed new glasses.

According to experts in the field, and to our own common sense, having a young person’s eyes and vision examined by an optometrist early in their visual development is best. It is important for parents not to wait until their children have visual problems, because correction after this point becomes more difficult. It is important, therefore, for children to have their eyes examined routinely and early.

However, when working people struggle to “get by” or to “make ends meet,” it is too easy for people to wait until a problem with vision evidences itself in the child. Correcting the concern at this point is typically much more difficult and costly.

The Mission Arlington^® family and the community of providers working with us step in at this point, so that families can take care of their children’s eyes in a way that doesn’t disrupt the family’s stability.  We are grateful that we have the privilege of working with so many talented, generous, and engaging people (like those mentioned above) who see the problem and lend a hand to help out.

After the children & youth were screened this past Saturday, those who needed corrective lenses were given a voucher which was paid for by Visionworks and six local optometrist offices. The young people could go with their family to the eye doctor who in turn provided corrective lenses to each student free of charge.  Whenever Mission Arlington^® is involved with people, there is never a charge to the people in need. That has been made possible by generous donors like these mentioned above, and it has been true since our beginning 29 years ago.

The health clinics which operate here every day take care of the physical needs of hundreds of people each month.  We are so thankful for the opportunity we had this past Saturday to provide health care to our community’s children and youth.

We are grateful for the privilege of this partnership with each of you who pray, give, and volunteer. We hope you can see how important this work is, and that you are making a difference here.