Hubert Sagnières, Chairman and CEO of Essilor and Tim Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics
(Press Release)
The Essilor Group has been a long-term partner for Special Olympics, helping more than 150,000 athletes see better over the past 13 years.
This month, Essilor and the Essilor Vision Foundation went one step further at the Special Olympics World Games 2015 in L.A., supporting both the Healthy Athletes Opening Eyes Program and the GenUin: Special Olympics Social Impact Summit and providing vision care to 3,000 athletes.
The Essilor Vision Foundation proudly partnered with the Generation Unified (GenUin) Social Impact Summit, a six-day convention that gathered 120 youth leaders from around the world.
Competitively selected from 30 countries, each youth leader worked intensively with mentors to develop their ‘Impact projects’ focusing on a variety of ideas that will make their communities more inclusive for people with intellectual disabilities.
The importance of healthy vision was singled out as one of the key issues at the Summit. Filipina participants Brina Maxino, 18 years old, and Sashi Montana, 19 years old, courageously pitched their idea “Eye Can Play: A Fun Eyeffair” and were shortlisted as one of the top 5 projects to present to a panel of VIP judges.
Vision care received an additional boost when the girls chose Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, as their mentor. “I love this project!” said Muhtar Kent. “You have brought the challenge of eyesight and vision together with the challenge of the whole world to create better awareness and correct the vision of all adults, and not just children.”
In parallel to the Social Impact Summit, Essilor Labs of America and EVF contributed to providing vision care services to over 3,000 athletes during the Special Olympics World Games 2015. Athletes were able to get their eyes checked and to choose from a selection of Transitions prescription glasses, sports goggles and sunglasses at the Special Olympics–Lions club International Opening Eyes tent.
Essilor volunteers also manned a temporary laboratory providing on-campus edging services that helped to ensure that many athletes received their prescription eyewear within 24 hours.
To celebrate this long-term partnership, Essilor and EVF hosted a reception of more than 75 guests, including dignitaries and volunteers from Special Olympics, the Essilor Group and Marshall B Ketchum University.
Tim Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics, thanked Essilor for the support of both the Foundation and Essilor laboratories around the world, offering a plaque of recognition to Hubert Sagnières, Chairman and CEO of the Essilor Group.
“Essilor and Special Olympics share the same passion for ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has the opportunity to live life to its fullest,” said Hubert Sagnières. “We are proud of our mission at Essilor to improve lives by improving sight, and fully committed to raising awareness that uncorrected vision, the world’s largest disability, can in most cases be corrected with a pair of eyeglasses.”