On the last Friday before Christmas, our London offices took part in a Christmas raffle. With an assortment of prizes ranging from chocolate (there was a lot!), wine, champagne, as well as hampers from M&S and Hotel Chocolat, this raffle was not to be missed.
ABOUT EVENT
During the week, tickets were sold for £2 each to raise money for Vision Aid Overseas’ Adopt a School initiative. This provides free eye tests and glasses for children in school in underdeveloped areas around the world. In the end, 90 tickets were sold we managed to raise an impressive £180 towards the cause!
ABOUT VISION AID OVERSEAS
Vision Aid Overseas was founded over 30 years ago in 1985 as a way of helping those living in poverty have access to eye care services. Armed with strong beliefs that everybody deserves the right to clear vision and that nobody gets “left behind” in the process, and knowing how much of a devastating impact poor vision can have on lives and livelihoods, they work hard to lessen the impact. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “prevention and treatment of vision loss are among the most cost-effective and successful of all health interventions.”[1]
Examples of how money raised can help:
- £5 – can pay for an eye test and a pair of glasses
- £22 – can pay for a day of training for an eye care worker
- £100 – can pay for a community outreach team to see 500 people
- £250 – can pay for a two-day community workshop to improve awareness of eye care issues and services available
- £1000 – can pay for a motorbike for a hospital to use for outreach to isolated communities (many of which cannot be reached by car)
ABOUT ADOPT A SCHOOL
Vision Aid Overseas joined forces with leading eye specialists, Essilor to create an initiative that helps tackle poor vision at the source: children. Together, they established the Adopt a School program that helps school children do better in school and education by improving their vision.
Examples of how money raised can help:
- £1000 – can pay for 200 children to receive an eye test and glasses
- £2500 – can pay for 500 children to receive an eye test and glasses
- £5000 – can adopt one school and provide eye test and glasses for 1000 students
Find out more about Vision Aid Overseas and their powerful initiative here.
In other Christmas related news, we also celebrated Christmas Jumper Day. Our London office managed to raise £24, despite only a few people remembering to don their favourite embarrassing Rudolf sweaters.