The Most Beautiful Eyes in Indiana Contest ended September 30, 2009. Thank you to all who participated. Please enjoy this slideshow of the winning photos!

Click here to view slideshow

A collection of all submitted photos can be viewed at the contest website.

Winning photos will be featured at the Sight for Life Luncheon at Meridian Hills Country Club on October 16, 2009. Email for more information or to make your reservation.

Prevent Blindness Indiana's "Focus on Kids" Sight for Life Luncheon is being held on October 16, 2009 at Meridian Hills Country Club. Join us for the third annual luncheon featuring Dr. Joel Zaba as keynote speaker. Eric Halvorson of WISH-TV will give the opening remarks.

For the past thirty seven years, Joel N. Zaba, M.A, O.D, has worked as both a practitioner and researcher in the field of optometry.  Dr. Zaba is a vision consultant to education and a former consulting editor to THE JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRY. Since 1972, Dr. Zaba has maintained a private practice in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he specializes in learning-related vision problems in children and adults.  

Dr. Zaba is the author of numerous articles and research relating vision to child and adult learning problems, literacy, school and workplace performance, and social-emotional problems.  He has lectured and presented his research on these topics throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Dr. Zaba served for over a decade as the vision consultant to the Norfolk, Virginia, Public School System, he has been a part-time faculty member of Old Dominion University’s School of Continuing Education, and for ten years Dr. Zaba was a consulting editor to the JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES, and for twelve years a consulting editor for JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL OPTOMETRY.

Dr. Zaba served as the chairman of the Communications Division of the American Optometric Association and as a spokesperson for the Vision Council of America.  Dr. Zaba has appeared on numerous television and radio programs such as NBC’s “Today” show, CNN, and USA Network’s “Alive and Well”. 

Dr. Zaba received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary in 1966, a Doctor of Optometry degree from the Southern College of Optometry in 1969, and a Master of Arts degree from the Institute for Child Study of the University of Maryland in 1971.

Fast Facts from Dr. Zaba:

• One out of four children has a vision problem

• Two out of three children in the US do not receive any preventative vision care before entering elementary school

• Experts estimate 80 percent of what we learn comes through the visual processing of information.

• 90 percent of children who need eyeglasses do not have them
• Children from poor urban areas have more than twice the normal rate of vision problems

• 40-67 percent of children with vision problems do not receive follow-up eye exams or glasses

• 74 percent of adjudicated adolescents have undetected vision problems

“No child should be falling behind at school because he can’t hear the teacher or see the blackboard. I refuse to accept that millions of our children fail to reach their full potential because we fail to meet their basic needs.”

-President Barack Obama

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Contact us for more information on the Sight for Life Luncheon featuring Dr. Joel Zaba as keynote speaker.

...from Bucky Everhart to Sue Thatcher, PBI's Gift of Vision Coordinator:

 Help us share the gift of sight with Indiana residents.

Please consider becoming involved in one of the following ways:

• Volunteer as a vision screener for adults and children

• Volunteer to participate in the Sight for Life or Seeing is Achieving speakers bureaus                     

• Volunteer in the office

• Make a gift to support our vision care programs

• Donate your car to the Wheels for Sight program
• Join People of Vision, PBI's Auxiliary            

• Set your browser home page to www.goodsearch.com and select Prevent Blindness Indiana as your charity of choice. Each search generates one cent for PBI.                

"It is a real pleasure working with the good folks at PBI. I really like helping people in need. I feel like it is my calling as a Christian Knight's Templar Mason. Please keep those calls coming. Let's keep working together to help people see again. May God Bless you and Prevent Blindness Indiana for all your good works."  

Thank You,

Bucky Everhart  

Seymour Commandery #56

Knight's Templar Eye Foundation

ADULTS

Prevent Blindness Indiana provides links to care that provide no-cost services for Hoosiers who need eye exams and glasses and meet eligibility guidelines. We currently have a three-month wait to provide links to care for qualifying adults.

If you need to see an eye doctor, please print and legibly complete this form and mail it to Gift of Vision at:

Prevent Blindness Indiana

70 E. 91st St., Suite 204

Indianapolis, IN  46240

Requests will be processed in the order in which they are received. Incomplete appications cannot be processed.

CHILDREN

If you seek assistance with eye care for a child under age 18, please complete the Sight for Students application form and mail to the address above or send via email. Eligibility guidelines apply. Please read and legibly complete the entire form - incomplete applications cannot be processed.

Vision Success Story: Sight for Students outfits teens with glasses

Meet Collin and Calvin Nguyen. They both received glasses from Prevent Blindness Indiana and their mother, Kim, was so grateful, she wrote us this letter:

I sincerely extend my gratitude for the services of Prevent Blindness Indiana for giving the gift of sight to my children.  I'm a wife and mom of five children without any eye care insurance.  Two of our sons needed glasses. It wasn't until I witnessed our 13-year-old trying on our 16-year-old’s glasses that I realized, he needed them.  He told me that he could see better.  Without any eye care insurance, we were in need. 

I'm grateful that Prevent Blindness Indiana has services for those of us who are in need.  Our son now says after he received his first eye exam and glasses, provided through your organization, "Mom, I can actually see now!   I think of all that he has missed out on, but I can now envision all that he will now be able to do with his new gift of sight!

Calvin, age 16, left, and Collin, age 13, right, show off their new glasses obtained through Prevent Blindness Indiana’s Sight for Students program.

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Teenagers with mediocre high school academic records and low SAT scores have been found to have significant numbers of undetected vision probems. Collin and Calvin now have a much better chance at remaining engaged in school and on track to graduation.                              

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• Screening Schedule - Click for vision screening dates and locations

WWW www.pbeye.org

Our mission is to prevent blindness and preserve sight.

We do this for Indiana residents through screening,

follow-up treatment, education and public awareness.

Our vision for all Hoosiers is Sight for Life.