Fraternal Order of Eagles donates to WesternU's Low Vision Clinic program
The Fraternal Order of Eagles will donate optical aids to Western University of Health Sciences that will help visually impaired children through the California School for the Blind low vision clinic program.
The donation is open to media and will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 10, 2014 in the WesternU Eye Care Center, 795 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766.
“This donation will provide much-needed magnifiers, telescopes and sunglasses to children whose families couldn’t otherwise afford them,” said College of Optometry Chief of Vision Rehabilitation Service Linda Pang, OD, FAAO. “In addition to a comprehensive eye examination, we perform a functional vision evaluation and make recommendations to their parents and teachers about what they need to function at their highest potential at school and home. We want to equip these children with the tools and resources that will allow them to be as independent as 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 free low vision rehabilitation exam every two years at the Eye Care Center at Western University of Health Sciences.
The clinics are held every two months at the Eye Care Center. The Fraternal Order of Eagles’ donation of $5,527 covers the cost of optical aids to children who do not otherwise have the means to pay for them.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) 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.
The donation to WesternU comes from FOE District 23, Sires and Arabella Unit 2, a branch of past presidents that has Junior Blind of America and the visually impaired as a special charity.
“To help yourself, you have to help others,” said State Officer Tim Weber, a FOE member for nearly 30 years. “I just get a good feeling that I’m doing something to help others.”
FOE helps a wide variety of charities and other organizations, funding research for cancer, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s and many others.
“Because we cover so many different major charities, I feel we’re helping that many more people,” Weber said.
