One last set of photos

Although our five days in Atlanta were up on Friday, March 26th there are still a few more photos from our time there to share. More fantastic kids, more hard workers, and a few shots from a little R&R at Fat Matt's - Atlanta's BBQ heaven.

More photos from Atlanta

Check out these photos of our clinic team hard at work and some of the wonderful kids we were able to help out.

Day 5/Saying Goodbye

The last day of clinic started and ended fast. There were a large number of kids waiting for us when we arrived at clinic in the morning, so registration was a challenge for the first couple of hours. Before we knew it, 12pm rolled around and it was time to start packing up. Around 3pm, the first van load of people left to head to the airport. About an hour later, it was our turn to head out.

Unfortunately, the week flew by fast, and while everyone had a good time, it feels like we only just started to really get to know one another. The week of clinic was another wonderful experience. We saw a lot of kids with great big smiles on their faces, and many wonderful stories of children who had gone so long without glasses, but with our help, received a brand new pair that allow them to see clearly now and perform better in school.

Being a part of OneSight is such a rewarding experience. And even though giving the gift of sight is what we're all about, it's still such an amazing experience to hear the stories of how we affect people's lives, and to see the smile on the face of someone we've just helped. I'm very proud and fortunate to be a part of such a great organization.

Day 4/Pinning Ceremony

Thursday was a busy day. We saw over 110 children, with the biggest rush coming first thing in the morning. We started the day off by taking the group picture in front of Iris, the vision van. We had quite a few volunteers from the Lions club, as well as various Sunglass Hut locations. They helped the day breeze by.

At the end of the day we unwound at a restaurant called Sauced, where we enjoyed some Atlanta style soul food in a really cool, 70's retro style atmosphere. We intended to hold the pinning ceremony there, but were unable to because of the noise level. We instead decided to head back to the hotel to hold the ceremony. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at one of the oldest Krispy Kreme locations where we were pleased to find the "Hot Now" sign lit up. Inside we were able to watch the doughnut making process, including what I liked to refer to as the "waterfall of goodness" that you see in the picture. I highly recommend visiting Krispy Kreme when the red sign is lit. The hot, fresh doughnuts were amazing.

Once back at the hotel, we held our pinning ceremony. A few days earlier, we all drew names from a hat. The name we drew was the person we were to pin. When pinning a person, you were to talk a little bit about the person, telling others about that person's life, and what enjoyed about that person. While many people get nervous about having to stand up in front of everyone and speak, the pinning ceremony is a good time, and it's great to hear how and why each person is appreciated, and how they contributed to the team during the clinic.

The pinning ceremony also signaled that the clinic was coming to an end. The next day was going to be a busy day of seeing children, packing up clinic, and traveling back home. After the ceremony, most stayed up for a while to chat and tell jokes. We knew that we might not have much time to say goodbye on Friday.

Day 3/Silent Auction

It's Wednesday (even though this was posted on Thursday) and we're at the mid point of the clinic. Unfortunately, this week is flying by. We saw 110 kids today and will have an even busier day tomorrow. Tonight we held our silent auction and had a great time. We raised over $1200, which will go directly towards OneSight.



There were great items to bid on, like a one of a kind pair of Oakley sunglasses with the OneSight logo etched on the lens, a OneSight flag signed by all of the clinic team members, CDs of local jazz artists, and other items from different team members' home towns, just to name a few.

The bidding began with everyone looking at each item and writing their name and bid on a sheet of paper. Each table had a time limit for bidding. As the closing seconds neared for each table, the pushing and shoving commenced, as people started vying for that last bid that would win them the item. There may or may not have been some cheating involved (eh-hem, cough, Mike Bates). The highlight of the night was the game of pin the jelly fish on the Sponge Bob net. Each person had to pay $5 to play, and the winner had the prize money deposited into their OneSight donation page.


The game was highly entertaining as their was a lot of spinning involved, and included team members being unknowingly led out into the hotel lobby, led across the opposite side of the room, and even directly into a birthday cake (unfortunately, we did not get a picture of Joanne King with her hand in the cake).

They said it couldn't be done

Roseve (middle), Felicia(left) and Olivia (right)

An amazing story came to us on Wednesday when Loretta, the mother of little Roseve, came in to tell us what we did for her little girl. Roseve, who is now nine-years-old has had problems seeing all her life. As an infant, her parents first noticed the problem as Roseve was first learning to walk and was very hesitant in her steps. It was discovered that she had amblyopia, commonly referred to as a lazy eye. Roseve's mother took her to countless doctors over the year, with each one tell her that while surgery would temporarily correct the problem, the problem would reoccur again. Roseve visited a different doctor every year for the past three years, and each one told her there was nothing they could do for her. On Tuesday, Roseve and her twin sister Olivia came in because Olivia needed glasses. Since Roseve's sister was going through the process, their mother decided to have Roseve participate, but had no expectations for what we could do for her.

Roseve went through all the screening steps. She started out with the eye chart test, then moved on to the depth perception and color blindness tests, and then the tonometer. Once she was finished there, she moved up to the dilation area where I had fun chatting with her and her sister. Roseve informed me that her sister, Olivia, was the evil twin, because Olivia always blamed everything on her brother. I had a hard time believing she was an evil twin because she was a very sweet little girl...but you know what they say about the quiet ones :)

Roseve visited the doctor next, who determined that all Roseve needed was a pair of glasses. She picked out her perfect pair of glasses, and waited patiently for them to be made in the vision van. After a short time, Roseve's glasses were finished. She placed them on her face and could see clearly for the first time in her life.

Loretta came in on Wednesday to help another child through the process, and to share the story of her little girl with us. She told us that she and her husband spent the afternoon in tears of joy for their little girl. They had a hard time getting her to take her glasses off at the end of the night. Roseve even wanted to shower with her glasses on. Loretta told her that she couldn't wear them in the shower because she wouldn't be able to see anything when they got wet and jokingly said that she could only wear them if the got wiper blades for them. Roseve then turned to her mom and asked her for wiper blades.

Loretta was so thankful for what we did for her daughter and wanted to be sure to express her gratitude for us changing her life. She was so excited for what this would mean for Roseve. Loretta informed us that Roseve had been falling behind in school, but she knew that Roseve would now be able to see clearly in school for the first time. It was such a pleasure and so heart warming to sit down with Roseve's mother to hear her story and to know that it was because of OneSight that she could finally see clearly after nine years of doctors telling her there was nothing that could be done.

Day 2

Today the team bonded with Brianna, a 12 yr. old student that broke her glasses about 6 months ago and never replaced them. At visual acutities Alethea realized that Brittany couldn't even see the big letter "E" on the chart. Yessica at Autorefractor took a reading of about a -10.00 on both eyes. Yessica couldn't imagine a day without her glasses nevertheless a child at school unable to read anything on the board. Dr. Donna confirmed the prescription and walker her to frame selection where Brittany got to choose two frames to make two pair of glasses just in case she looses or breakes one. Before leaving, we got another glimpse on how hard her life must be. A team member called her name from a distance and Brittany heard the name but was unable to identify the person that had called her. We are sure that OneSight is going to make a big difference in Brittany's life. We wish her the best of luck!