See the world up close again.
Steve's Vision puts free reading glasses in the hands of people who can no longer read, sew, mend a net or see their medicine labels. Tens of thousands of pairs so far, fitted one person at a time.
Can you read this?
A simple pair of glasses changes that.
After forty, almost everyone's near vision fades.
Without glasses a farmer cannot read a seed label, a tailor cannot thread a needle.
In low income countries, two out of three people who need glasses do not have them.
Steve's Vision has given away tens of thousands of pairs, free, on missions around the world.
If you can read this line, you probably do not need our help. Someone else does.
Find the smallest line you can read. That is how a fitting starts.
The easiest vision problem in the world to fix.
Presbyopia is the slow loss of near vision that comes to nearly everyone in their forties. In wealthy countries it is fixed with a pair of drugstore readers. In much of the world there is no drugstore, or the glasses cost more than a week's wages, so people simply stop reading, stop sewing and stop doing close work that earns a living.
A pair of reading glasses costs very little and takes minutes to fit. Few things we do on a mission give so much back so quickly.
Source: World Health Organization, Blindness and vision impairment fact sheet.
Minutes per person, and nobody leaves without trying.
Read the card
Each person holds a near vision card at arm's length and tries to read the smallest line they can.
Try a strength
We hand over a pair to try, starting low, while they read the card again.
Find the clear one
We go up in steps until the small print comes into focus, then check the next strength down.
Take them home
The glasses are theirs to keep, free. Sometimes they come back still wearing the price sticker to say thank you.
Monks, nuns and elders at an ancient temple.
On a Rotary peace mission to Cambodia, Steve set up beneath the carved stone walls of a Buddhist temple and fitted reading glasses for the monks, nuns and elders who live and pray there. The same mission ran a free clinic with eye surgery, dental care and LN4 prosthetic hands for landmine survivors.
“I started a program many years ago called Steve's Vision. I am the only funder, and we have supplied tens of thousands of reading glasses over the years.”Steve Bender, founder
High in the Andes, at the market and the clinic.
In the Andes of Peru, near Cusco, Steve's Vision fitted readers for farmers, market sellers and grandmothers who had spent years squinting at their work. One woman peeling potatoes for market tried on her first pair and could suddenly see the knife in her hands. At a free clinic in Anta, the line stretched out the door.
Doc in a Box and the vision trailer.
Steve's Vision grew into something bigger than a box of readers. Steve designed and built mobile clinics that can roll to wherever people need care, across the border, to a school yard or to a winter shelter.
A mobile dental clinic Steve designed, carrying about 15 dental units and chairs, a gas air compressor, a full set of instruments and two sterilizers. It served free dental clinics with USC dental students and Rotarians in Orange County and across the border in Rosarito, Mexico.
A mobile eye clinic built to bring eye exams and glasses to children and families, working with Kids Vision for Life of Orange County, part of the Essilor Vision Foundation, and Illumination Foundation, which serves people experiencing homelessness.
Lessons, toothbrushes and fluoride for children, led with dentist Dr. Jennifer Stone, from children's homes in Rosarito in 2017 to the landmine school in Siem Reap.
The vision trailer is built with Kids Vision for Life OC and Illumination Foundation.
Doc in a Box crosses into Mexico for a Rotary dental clinic in Rosarito, with the Oral Hygiene Initiative visiting children's homes.
Free dental clinics in Placentia, with flyers in English, Spanish and Romanian. In April, Steve takes 60 USC dental students on a mission to Thailand. In December, the trailer returns to Rosarito.
A Rotary and AYUDA dental mission to Panama with 12 operators.
The trailer is ready to roll again, with new partners in Southern California and Mexico.
Wherever a mission goes, the glasses go too.
Temples, clinics and a landmine school near Siem Reap and Kampong Cham.
Markets and a free clinic in Anta, in the Andes near Cusco.
A 2018 medical mission with 60 USC dental students.
Dental missions in Panama and clinics in Rosarito, Baja California.
Clubs and teams can carry a box of readers on their own missions.
Glasses are one part of a peace mission.
Steve's Vision travels alongside the peace work of the Rotary Club of Newport Beach. The same trips bring dental care, eye surgery, prosthetic hands and fluoride for children, and the full story lives on Give Peace a Chance.
Give Peace a Chance
Our peace work, dedicated to John Lennon, with the Cambodia Peace Mission, LN4 hands and Rotary's peace projects.
givepeacechance.orgLN4 Hand Project
Free prosthetic hands for people who lost a hand to landmines or accidents.
ln4handproject.orgThe global picture
The World Health Organization's facts on vision impairment worldwide.
who.intEvery pair in a drawer can see again.
Donate readers
New or gently used reading glasses in any strength from +1.00 to +3.50. Clean them, put each pair in a sleeve or bag, and mark the strength.
Fund a mission
A small gift buys dozens of new pairs and helps carry them to the people who need them.
Come along
No medical training needed to help with a fitting. You hold the card, hand over the glasses and share the smile.
Steve@SteveBender.net
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