On September 8, 75 students at Royal Early Childhood Center in Brookshire received free eye exams and, if needed, free prescription glasses -- thanks to a partnership between VSP® Eyes of Hope®, local eye doctors and Communities In Schools of Houston. Many of the prescription glasses were made the same day on board the VSP Eyes of Hope mobile clinic, allowing patients to receive eye care and eyewear in the same visit.

During their long-time partnership, the national Communities In Schools organization and VSP Eyes of Hope have provided free vision care to approximately 2,700 students around the country.

In addition, Bess the Book Bus, a nationwide mobile literacy organization, was in attendance and provided free books to 489 people, including patients, parents and caregivers.

“My kids are excited for this because a lot of them play sports, so not only is it helping them academically, but it's also helping them with their extracurricular activities and opening doors for them to excel in sports,” said Rylei Jaramillo, CIS Student Support Manager for Royal Junior High School.

“Seeing clearly should be easy. I tell my patients, if you’re working really hard to focus on your vision, and you’re often squinting to see things, it’s going to be difficult to concentrate at the same time,” said Dr. Matthew Pham, a volunteer eye doctor with VSP Eyes of Hope. “It was such an amazing experience to work with Communities in Schools of Houston and VSP Eyes of Hope to help give eye exams to kids so they can get back to seeing well in the classroom and focusing on learning.”

“I'm really excited to get a pair of glasses. I've never had them before, so I had to move to the front of the class away from my friends because I was having trouble seeing,” said one sixth grade student who participated in the program.