Tri-County Lions worked to meet the needs of area children, delivering donated supplies to (clockwise from top left) East Tennessee Childrens Hospital, Tennessee School for the Deaf, and the Isaiah House in Sevier County. Many thanks to Rita Barnes for the top photos.
After tonight's meeting, Tri-County Lions stayed to sort a large collection of donated children's supplies to be delivered shortly to several local agencies. It was great to see such a large turnout of members participating! (Stay tuned for more details).
Knoxville Tri-County Lions members will be serving Sevier County Head Start families by participating in KidSight Outreach Eye Screenings planned for August 23, 24, and 25 in cooperation with the area Head Start programs, Tennessee Lions Charities, Inc., and Sevier County Lions Club.
Tennessee Lions Charities, Inc., has served the children of Tennessee for over two decades. Through our KidSight Outreach vision screening program, free vision screenings havce been provided to over 650,000 Tennessee children over two decades.
Vision problems affect five percent of preschool and one in four school-age children. Currently, an estimated 60% of children under age six do not have eye exams. Spearheaded by its founders, Ed Lindsey and Austin Jennings, Tennessee Lions Charities created its pediatric vision screening program, KidSight Outreach, to address this problem.
Through our partnership with Vanderbilt University’s Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, KidSight Outreach has become the standard for volunteer pediatric vision screening programs across the nation. For more than twenty years, KidSight Outreach has provided free vision screenings to the children of Tennessee between the ages of 12 and 72 months. The goal of KidSight Outreach is to ensure that children with potential vision problems do not begin school with the disadvantage of an undiagnosed vision problem.
This program provides early detection, professional referral, and assured follow-up by notifying the parents to ensure the child receives a professional eye examination. All trained Lions Club volunteers conduct the screenings at no cost to the child or screening site. The vision screening instruments used in KidSight Outreach vision screening program are calibrated to specifically detect Amblyopia, a problem which must be identified and treated at an early age to prevent low vision and/or blindness.
