New Eyes partners with several social service agencies to provide eyeglasses to specific client groups.

Requests for assistance from individuals in Kentucky increased dramatically over the last seven years. To meet the need for new eyeglasses in that state more effectively, New Eyes recently began collaborating with Kentucky Homeplace, a state-funded program that uses lay health workers to improve access to medical care for low-income rural families.

In April 2004, New Eyes stopped issuing vouchers directly to individuals in Kentucky, and began issuing vouchers only through established social service agencies, the largest of which is Kentucky Homeplace. This new process reduces paperwork for the agencies, ensures that caseworkers close to the clients evaluate their need, permits clients to receive vouchers quickly, and enables agencies to prioritize and plan out their voucher distribution.

Click here to read "Homeplace, New Eyes Partner for Better Vision" which was published in the Winter 2004-05 edition of Rural Health Update.

Kentucky continues to lead the nation in requests for assistance from New Eyes. The most recent statistics indicate that 19% of the rural population have incomes below the poverty level and over 500,000 residents lack health insurance.

The William G. and Helen C. Hoffman Foundation generously provided a $100,000 grant in 2004 and a $50,000 grant in 2005 to support New Eyes' program in Kentucky.

New Eyes has partnered with the Kress Vision Program to provide eyeglasses to schoolchildren in New York City since 2000. Kress Vision is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the New York University Downtown Hospital whose mission is to provide vision services at no cost to the underprivileged of New York.

Kress Vision and New Eyes' groundbreaking program provides comprehensive vision services directly to students within the school setting. A Kress Vision ophthalmologist and technician visit a school to re-examine students who have failed an initial eye screening but have not yet received needed services. If indicated, the doctor writes a prescription, the technician helps the student choose among frame samples, and the completed glasses—paid for by New Eyes—are sent directly to the student at school.

Last year, New Eyes and Kress Vision provided over 517 students with the eyeglasses they needed to succeed in school.

Many individuals in southern New Jersey live in inner city areas such as Camden, poor rural areas such as the Pinelands, or are migrant workers in low-paying agricultural jobs. New Eyes provides a large number of eyeglasses to the less fortunate in this region in conjunction with the Camden Eye Center.

Last year, New Eyes purchased eyeglasses for over 174 individuals who received free eye exams from Camden Eye Center's three locations in Camden, Blackwood, and West Collingswood.