Darren Horndasch
President and CEO
Wisconsin Vision, Inc.
Recent studies have indicated that approximately one in every four children has a vision problem that could affect their ability to learn in the classroom. Darren Horndasch, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin Vision, Inc., recognized the importance of helping those children and implemented a program a few years ago to offer free eye exams and eyeglass distribution to Milwaukee Public School children in need.
“We’ve teamed up with Prevent Blindness Wisconsin to assist with the screenings and our whole mission is not only to help these children see better, but also to bring to light the need to have vision screenings regularly,” Horndasch said.
In partnership with MPS and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, Wisconsin Vision has served one or two schools each semester since April 2011. It started at Clarke Street School and has since expanded to include Gwen T. Jackson Early Childhood and Elementary School and this year the Vieau School, where roughly 95 percent of students come from low-income families.
The program provides initial screenings, free visual acuity exams for children that failed the screenings, and the fabricating and dispensing of free eyeglasses to the students who need them.
Horndasch was nominated by Kanika Burks, principal at Gwen T. Jackson Early Childhood and Elementary School; one of the first locations supported by Wisconsin Vision’s program.
In total, Wisconsin Vision has provided more than 200 free pairs of prescription eyeglasses valued at nearly $54,000 to underprivileged MPS students.
Wisconsin Vision has collaborated with its frame vendors and lens manufacturers and staff in order to fabricate the glasses and get them back in the students’ hands within a week, Horndasch said.
“It’s very rewarding,” Horndasch said. “When we put those glasses on that child’s face and you see that smile as if their whole world has changed because they can now see, that keeps us motivated.”
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