Fraternal Order of Eagles donates to WesternU
The Eagles have landed, bringing with them visual aids for children.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) donated optical aids to Western University of Health Sciences April 10, 2014. Seven members of FOE District 23, Sires and Arabella Unit 2, a branch of past FOE presidents, visited WesternU’s Eye Care Care Center in Pomona, Calif.
FOE donated about $6,700 in optical aids for children who do not otherwise have the means to pay for them.
“As a newer program, it’s very important to find these community relationships. This donation will go directly into the hands of children in need,” said College of Optometry Dean Elizabeth Hoppe, OD, MPH, DrPH. “To be able to improve somebody’s chances in life – supporting them to gain an education, helping them work, providing a helping hand so they can help themselves — that’s what it’s all about. Thanks so much for making this all possible.”
WesternU partners with the California School for the Blind on Low Vision Clinic Days. Any child with a visual impairment who is being served by a teacher of the visually impaired or an orientation and mobility specialist is eligible for a low vision rehabilitation exam every two years at the Eye Care Center at Western University of Health Sciences.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles is an international nonprofit organization uniting fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills and promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope, according to its website. FOE membership exceeds 800,000, with more than 1,500 local Aeries in the U.S. and Canada.
WesternU Assistant Bursar Cathy Alfaro, a four-year member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Ontario, connected FOE with the College of Optometry. The FOE District 23, Sires and Arabella Unit 2 has Junior Blind of America and the visually impaired as a special charity.
“I like helping people,” said Tom Carroll, an 18-year FOE member. “I like charity work. The main reason I got involved (with FOE) is all the things they do to help children.”
Chris Zable, an FOE member for 32 years, said she joined the organization because she believes in its philosophy of “people helping people.” When she served as FOE State President, she traveled throughout California promoting FOE and its philosophies.
“All the people I met were the joy of my life,” she said. “Anything pertaining to kids, I’m a firm believer in."
