Grant Provides Special Eye-Care Technology for Local Kids

Twenty-five local children with severe vision impairment now have access to equipment and technology to enhance their ability to learn and interact with people in their lives.

The Foundation awarded a $10,500 grant to Sight Savers America during our 2021 fall discretionary grant cycle to cover eye care costs for three children. Private foundations awarded grants to cover costs for the remaining 22 kids on the wait list to receive the special equipment.

The kids you see in the collage above are Noah, Rylee, and Chloe. The pictures show them utilizing the new vision-enabling equipment.

"Sight Savers America (SSA) is very grateful to the Community Foundation of Abilene for their generous $10,050 grant. This funding changed the lives of three Abilene children with severe low vision by providing them with life-changing, high-tech assistive technology. They can use this equipment to read, write, groom themselves, and even see their loved ones’ faces clearly. SSA will also provide them with extensive follow-up eye care each year, maintain and repair the equipment as needed, and keep records for analysis of the progress with their vision aids," stated Michelle Ashman, Sight Savers America Communications Manager.

This grant is one example of CFA's flexibility to respond to emerging community needs, made possible by donors who establish Unrestricted endowment funds. Grants from these funds are awarded through CFA's spring and fall discretionary grant cycles, which are competitive opportunities for Abilene-area nonprofits to apply for funding.