VOSH-Santa Cruz-Québec Chapter of the Month, for extraordinary humanitarian accomplishment.
Read about the history and the numbers of patients served below as submitted by this amazingly active VOSH Chapter.
It is with great pride that VOSH Santa Cruz announces to have received over 200,000 patients in more than 54 missions in 8 different countries offering a free eye exam and a pair of glasses since 1999.
We produce more than 8,000 pairs of new glasses in our workshop which are then given to the poor. Our warehouse of 4,000 square feet, enables us to select, analyze, and class over 15,000 pairs of glasses which we bring to each mission. As well, we distribute over 150,000 pairs of glasses to other groups. More than 100 volunteers help us to achieve all this work. We receive most of our glasses thanks to various Lions Clubs in Québec and Ontario.
For the past 10 years, most of the OD students from Montreal University and from Waterloo participate in our missions, helping the ODs, opticians, and volunteers in our various missions to South America, Europe, and Africa. We also have help from OD students f rom ICO and Brisbane, Australia. In 2016, VOSH Santa Cruz was the first humanitarian group to be received by the Republic of Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, and we are returning April 28th 2017.