One World Sight Project receives donation from Newport-Balboa Rotary Club
NEWPORT BEACH – July 30, 2008 – The One World Sight Project today received a significant donation from the Newport-Balboa Rotary Club to further its efforts to fight blindness in Africa.
Rotary International has been significant in helping the One World Sight Project achieve its successes. To date, Rotary has contributed over $20,000 to help eliminate curable blindness.
“Dr. Rick Weiss isn’t just talking about what needs to be done to change the crisis of blindness in Africa, he’s rolling up his sleeves and doing something about it,” said Victor Currie, President of the Newport-Balboa Rotary Club. “The One World Sight Project has the potential to impact a huge number of people throughout the continent. All of us at the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa are proud to support his efforts, and proud to have him as one of us.”
The One World Sight Project was created by Richard Weiss, M.D. in 1989. Weiss was inspired to create the One World Sight Project to combat curable blindness in the developing world by a song that he wrote about the plight of the blind in 1988. Soon after, Stevie Wonder’s participation as a nominal OWSP Special Advisor created unique consensus and excitement within the international ophthalmology community that led to the adoption of plans to eliminate worldwide curable blindness. One World Sight Project continues to advance eye care in Africa with its plans for modular eye care centers and standardized treatment methods.
The Eyes of Africa Initiative is the current focus for the One World Sight Project. In 2007, OWSP held a national Botox Cosmetic fundraiser to help complete the Kilimanjaro Center for Community Ophthalmology, the first comprehensive training center for community ophthalmology in all of Africa. The fundraiser was broadcast live over the Internet and involved 44 physicians from around the country, raising over $200,000 and providing 200 people in Tanzania with sight-restoring surgeries.