Our Commitment to Giving Back
Gulfcoast Eye Center is grateful for the opportunity to offer time and/or funding to the following charities.
Optometry Giving Sight
Optometry Giving Sight was established in 2003 to address the needs of the 300 million men, women and children around the world who are blind or vision impaired simply because they don’t have access to an eye exam and a pair of glasses. Why? Because in some countries there are not enough trained eye care personnel nor infrastructure to support these desperately needed eye care services.
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Optometry Giving Sight is a global fundraising campaign reaching out to the more than 200,000 optometrists around the world, and their nearly 325 million patients, to fund the solution.
They support programs that offer not only eye exams and glasses in countries with little or no access to them, but that establish the infrastructure and train the local human resources required for sustainable, quality vision care.
At the end of 2007, Optometry Giving Sight distributed US$1,000,000 to projects that will give sight to people with refractive error blindness and impaired vision in Africa, Sri Lanka, East Timor and Indigenous Australia. The funds have been raised by optometrists, their staff, patients and optometric students in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe.
For more information, visit www.givingsight.org
InfantSEE Program
Did you know eye problems can occur in infants without noticeable symptoms?
Your baby’s vision goes through important stages. An eye and vision assessment is an important step to making sure your baby is learning to see properly.
The InfantSEE program provides a one-time, no cost eye and vision assessment for babies 6-12 months old.
Learn more about InfantSee here or make an appointment today!
Lions Club
Gulfcoast Eye Center supports the local Lions Club that has historically accomplished the following:
- collected 4,350 eyeglasses
- covered the costs of eye exams for 72 people
- provided funding for eye glasses for 70 people
- provided pre-school eye screenings to 380 children at 12 licensed day care facilities
- donated over 2,000 hours of service.
Dr. Bovio and the team at Gulfcoast Eye Center were proud to be awarded the Helen Keller award from the Lions Club for their crusade against low vision and for promoting eye health.
Learn about the Sarasota Lions Club here.
All Faiths Food Bank
Sadly hunger hurts our most vulnerable: children, seniors and veterans. According to the local ALICE study, in 2018, 46 percent of households in Florida could not afford basic needs such as housing, childcare, food, health care, and transportation. 38% of households in Sarasota struggle to afford their basic needs.
Gulfcoast Eye Center is proud to provide support to the All Faiths Food Bank, the only food bank and largest hunger relief organization in Sarasota and DeSoto counties.
Learn more about All Faiths Food Bank here.
Toys for Tots
The basic mission of the Marine Toys for Tots Program is to collect and distribute toys to Sarasota’s less fortunate children in hopes of bringing them the joy of Christmas and send a message of hope.
Gulfcoast Eye Center supports Toys for Tots by serving official collection location for donations of unwrapped toys.
To learn more about our local Toys for Tots charity, visit their website.