World change starts with educated children.™

Did You Know ...

• The average person in Cambodia, India, Nepal and Vietnam survives on less than $1 a day?
• More than 100 million school-age children in the developing world are not enrolled in primary school?
• Over half the children in these countries never have the opportunity to attend secondary school?
• Many rural students have to walk as far as 3 hours each way to go to school?
• Girls are often not given the opportunity to attend school due to the lack of economic resources and cultural bias?
• Of the 850 million illiterate people in the developing world, nearly two-thirds are women.

Room to Read's successful approach to the problem of rural education consists of:

• Partnering with communities to build schools through our challenge grant program
• Establishing bi-lingual libraries
• Publishing local language children's books
• Establishing computer and language labs
• Providing long-term scholarships to girls

Room to Read seeks to intervene early in the lives of children and help provide them with an education and the lifelong gift of literacy.

It is a dynamic, results-oriented organization. Since Room to Read's inception as a non-profit entity in 2000, they have impacted the lives of over 510,000 children by:

• Building 110 schools
• Establishing over 1,475 libraries
• Publishing 33 new local language children’s book titles thereby allowing us to donate over 300,000 new books
• Shipping over 475,000 English children’s books
• Establishing over 48 computer and language labs
• Funding over 975 long-term scholarships

Please visit the Room to Read web site soon and do what you can!

World change starts with educated children.™

Better Vision for Children Foundation chapters are waiting to be established throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and further abroad. We are vitally interested in connecting with anyone who really wants to help children.

There are many myths about what is commonly referred to as Lazy Eye (amblyopia) and eye cancer (retinoblastoma).

Here are Some of the Facts:

1)  Amblyopia, in its several types, is now the leading cause of permanent vision loss in the United States.

2)  Retinoblastoma is now one of the leading causes of infant death. In many cases the eye(s) are removed to prevent the spread of cancer and the child still dies.

3)  Amblyopia and retinoblastoma incapacitate or blind about 500,000 children each year and have already done the same to over 18 million adults.

4)  Amblyopia is usually not reversible after age five, resulting in legal blindness at 20/200 or worse.

5)  Amblyopia and retinoblastoma was detected in over 30 percent of the children screened in three years (results of tests conducted by B.V.C. at preschools and Wal-Mart Vision Centers in low-income areas of San Diego County beginning in October 1995).

6)  Amblyopia and retinoblastoma do not "go away" on their own. It must be treated.

7)  Amblyopia and retinoblastoma are easily prevented or treated in most cases, if detected before age three.

8)  Amblyopia has been virtually eliminated in Sweden!

9)  Amblyopia and retinoblastoma can be reliably detected only by pediatric ophthalmologists in lengthy testing which is not usually done (barring injury, how many times did your child visit a pediatric ophthalmologist before the age of five?), or with this portable, instantaneous, photo-refractive screening done exclusively by the Better Vision for Children Foundation's Project H.E.A.L. (Help Eliminate Amblyopia/Lazy eye).

This is the Sole Purpose of B.V.C.:

* To prevent and cure partial or total blindness resulting from amblyopia (lazy eye) through:

• Getting information to parents, pre-schoolers, children´s homes, etc., on the importance of getting pre-school children's eyes tested and corrective measures performed by ophthalmologists and other professionals with experience in screening and treating amblyopia


• A program of mass screening of one- to four-year-old children for amblyopia with a digital photoscreener that can be operated by non-medical personnel


• Payment of, or reduction in, the cost of the prescription eyeglasses or lenses required for treatment of underlying eye disorders

Better Vision for Children, a non-profit charitable corporation, welcomes donations in any amount. They will be used exclusively to assist with education, detection and treatment of the amblyopic condition among disadvantaged children.  Visit the Better Vision for Children web site soon!

To make a donation now, just click on the graphic above.