Unite For Sight Fact Sheet and Story Angles

Organization Founded: 2000
International Programs Founded: 2004
Global Health Conference Founded: 2004
Eye Care Services Provided To: 600,000
Sight-Restoring Cataract Surgeries: 18,471
Volunteers Trained To Provide Eye Care Services: 5,281

Story Angles

Unite For Sight was founded by Jennifer Staple in her dorm room when she was a sophomore at Yale University. Now Jennifer is 27, and she has grown the organization to be a global nonprofit organization that has provided eye care to 600,000 people in North America, Africa, and Asia. A visionary and social entrepreneur, Jennifer Staple was featured in Nicholas D. Kristof's "The Age of Ambition" article in The New York Times on January 27, 2008.

Since 2003, Unite For Sight has trained more than 5,200 volunteers to "Unite For Sight" and provide eye care services in their local community and abroad. These volunteers annually contribute 80,000 volunteer hours of service to eliminating preventable blindness and restoring sight. The work of these volunteers is vitally important, and the result of their work is profound. In addition to Unite For Sight's measurable impact, there is an equally compelling achievement. The organization has found a way to unite doctors, students, and other people, especially younger people, across borders, across economic status, and across professional lines.

Unite For Sight has provided eye care to 600,000 people worldwide and coordinated and funded more than 18,471 sight-restoring surgeries for patients living in extreme poverty in Africa and Asia. The Unite For Sight international programs are locally led and managed by ophthalmologists at partner eye clinics. The patients go from being completely blind to having their sight entirely restored by a 15-minute operation. 80% of all blindness is preventable, and 36 million people worldwide are needlessly blind. Unite For Sight's goal is to create a lasting impact and reduce the number of people living with unnecessary blindness. Unite For Sight sponsors all of the eye care programs, including providing patients with free surgery, so that no patient remains blind due to lack of funds.

Unite For Sight applies best practices in eye care, public health, and volunteerism to achieve our goal of high quality eye care for all. The programs are locally led and managed by ophthalmologists at Unite For Sight's partner eye clinics. Unite For Sight's international eye care services with partner local eye clinics are comprehensive, including examinations by local eye doctors, diagnosis and care for all treatable conditions, promotion, and prevention. This full range of services is delivered to the popuation year-round. Outreach services are brought to the people in their villages, whether those remote areas are 1 hour from the local eye clinic, or 7 hours from the clinic.

About Unite For Sight

Unite For Sight's unwavering commitment to creating real, lasting impact involves four types of innovative programs.

• Community-Based Chapters in North America: University student volunteers provide vision screenings and education programs in local community centers such as at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Those screened are matched with free health coverage programs so that they can receive a complete eye exam by an eye doctor.
• Global Impact Corps in North America: Unite For Sight provides global health and development training to volunteers of its Global Impact Corps. The volunteers use professionally-designed educational and fundraising materials to mobilize individuals and communities to eliminate preventable blindness on a global scale.
• International Eye Care Outreach Programs: The goal of Unite For Sight and its partner eye clinics and communities is to create eye disease-free communities. Unite For Sight's volunteers (local and visiting) work with partner eye clinics to provide eye care in communities without previous access. The eye clinic's eye doctors and Unite For Sight volunteers jointly provide community-based screening programs in rural villages. Unite For Sight sponsors all of the eye care programs, including providing patients with free surgery so that no patient remains blind due to lack of funds.
• Global Health Conference: The conference annually convenes more than 2,200 participants from all 50 states and from more than 55 countries. The goal of the conference is to exchange ideas and best practices across disciplines in order to improve public health and international development.

Unite For Sight demonstrates the highest standards in social entrepreneurship: http://www.uniteforsight.org/what-we-do/social-innovation

Media Contacts

For Unite For Sight logo, photographs, video footage, and other requests, please contact JStaple@uniteforsight.org
Website: www.uniteforsight.org
Media Contact: Jennifer Staple, JStaple@uniteforsight.org, (203) 404-4900