Transitions community grant awarded to five organizations

Pinellas Park, FL-Transitions Optical Inc. has awarded one-time grants to five community organizations in support of their programs to promote healthy sight:

Butler County Association for the Blind facilitates a Prevention of Blindness program in western Pennsylvania that provides screening for approximately 7,000 children, including preschool, kindergarten, and first grade, each year at 83 sites and through programs geared toward Head Start participants and special-needs children of all ages.

Camden Eye Center's Sight First for Kids program provides free and low-cost eye care to economically disadvantaged residents of Camden City and surrounding areas of New Jersey.

Deicke Center for Visual Rehabilitation travels to schools throughout Illinois, offering low-vision clinics for children in kindergarten through 12th grade with severe visual impairments.

Vision Health International is a United States-based, non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to the delivery of free vision-care services and sight-restoring surgery to medically underserved populations in Latin America.

"We are impressed by the plans of the selected organizations and are anxious to see the fruits of their efforts," said Mary O'Hara, regional giving officer and communications specialist at Transitions.

The community grant program complements the national efforts of Transitions' Healthy Sight for Life Fund. It was created to provide one-time funding and other support for eye-care professionals, optical laboratories, local charity groups, and regional associations that seek to promote healthy sight in their communities.

Proposals for community grants are accepted and awarded on a rolling basis year-round through the "For Professionals" section of the fund's Web site, http://www.HealthySightforLife.org/.