Glimpses
Foundation and various stakeholders,
the Special Olympics-Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes® program
provides Special Olympics athletes in
more than 80 countries with vision
examinations, prescription eyewear
and valuable referrals for follow–up
care.
SAFILO CONTINUES
PARTNERSHIP WITH
SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Safilo Group, the fully integrated
Italian eyewear creator distributor of
quality and trust, continues its commitment to support Special Olympics,
the global non-profit organization
dedicated to year-round sports training and competition for people with
intellectual disabilities. Founded in
1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver,
Special Olympics now serves more
than 4.5 million athletes with intellectual disabilities in sports training,
competition and related services
worldwide.
Safilo has announced a new threeyear commitment to Special Olympics
at its Extended Global Leadership
Team meeting on 2nd February 2016,
when 150 of Safilo’s global leaders
gathered at Safilo’s headquarters in
Padua, Italy. The partnership between
Safilo and Special Olympics dates back
to 2003 and over the past 12 years has
led to over 1 million optical frames
and sunglasses provided to Special
Olympics athletes all over the world.
As part of the Special Olympics global
health platform made possible
through the support of the Golisano
“It is Safilo’s honour to continue our
longstanding partnership with Special
Olympics. Serving society is at the
heart of our Industry. Eyewear exists
to care for Eye Sight, nurture Beauty
and enable Vision,” comments Luisa
Delgado, CEO of Safilo Group.
“With Special Olympics, we serve
athletes and specific broader groups
with projects across the world, to
bring their extraordinary visions to
life. We are proud to contribute with
our glasses, donating frames designed
with craftsmanship and quality for
comfort and fit.”
“Special Olympics has found that
one out of every five athletes competing at Games has never had an eye
examination and more than one in
three athletes need a new eyewear
prescription,” explains Mary Davis,
Acting Chief Executive Officer of
Special Olympics, Inc. “Partners such
as Safilo are crucial to the success of
our Opening Eyes program because
together we work to break down the
barriers that people with intellectual
disabilities experience when seeking
quality health care and access to health
services. We are extremely grateful for
Safilo’s continued commitment to Special Olympics and we look forward to
three more years of this important
partnership which benefits athletes
in such a significant way,” added
Mary Davis.
Since the very beginning, Safilo’s involvement with Special Olympics has
been as global supplier of the Opening
Eyes vision care program. Opening
Eyes, part of Special Olympics Healthy
Athletes® public health initiative, is
the largest program in the world
dedicated to providing vision care for
people with intellectual disabilities.
A large number of athletes have the
chance to benefit from the vision
screenings and above all, to receive
prescription eye glasses to correct
their vision impairments and unglasses to protect their eyes. The Opening
Eyes program also provides sports
protective eyewear for athletes that
train and compete in contact sports.
The eye health and vision care
program called, “Opening Eyes”, was
founded by Dr. Paul Berman of the
American Optometric Association’s
Sports Vision Section and formally
incorporated into the Special Olympics
Healthy Athletes program in 1997. A
generous grant from the Lions Club
International Foundation, the largest
service club in the world, formalized
a global partnership and enabled the
Opening Eyes program to expand internationally. Opening Eyes is able to
provide prescription eyeglasses to
athletes in need in collaboration with
Essilor International, who provides
the polycarbonate lenses necessary
for the fabrication of eyewear.
Safilo renews its support of Special
Olympics with the donation of over
160,000 spectacles and sunglasses
per year up to 2018 for the athletes of
Special Olympics. In addition, Safilo
personnel will continue to take an active part in the implementation of the
events as volunteers, donating their
time and expertise for the benefit of
Special Olympics athletes and those
with intellectual disabilities.
Optical Prism | May 2016 35