643 Homeless San Franciscans receive eye glasses!

I wanted to let you know that to date we have been able to provide 643 homeless San Franciscans with prescription eye glasses in 2016!

Without my glasses I can't do anything.  I can't even see well enough to find my glasses in the morning.  Not only did we help 643 individuals see, we also helped countless individuals avoid headaches, to be able to fill out paperwork to improve their quality of life, to see dangers on the sidewalks and streets and to escape the difficulty of life through a good book.

A few of the individuals at our vision events discovered issues that required further medical care and at least one was able to get a life changing surgery in partnership with the Lions Eye Foundation.

In addition to all the great health effects, individuals who are used to hearing "no" got a major "yes."  "Yes," we can get you a free pair of eye glasses.  "Yes," you can pick out whatever pair of frames you like.  "Yes," the fine folk at Project Homeless Connect where you pick up your glasses can help you improve other parts of your life. 

Thank you for helping us say "yes" to 643 homeless people who needed glasses.  Over the next year we plan to continue our "yes" by partnering with others and doing what we can to patch the holes in San Francisco's continuum of care. 

Thank you for saying "yes" to our HandUp campaign!


Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer
Executive Director or Welcome and Pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 2,530

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation and the Castro Lions Club for providing major financial support for this project! 

More San Francisco Vision Event Results

We've been so busy helping people get glasses, we haven't had time to keep our posts up today.  Here are the results from our San Francisco vision events:
 

On April 21st at Santa Maria y Martha Lutheran we got 39 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

 

On May 8th at Larkin Street Youth Services we got 42 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

On May 22nd at Project homeless connect we got 37 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

 

On June 5th our phoropters were used at the Project Homeless Connect event accounting for 43 of the exams completed that day for homeless San Franciscans. 

On June 9th at St. Paulus Lutheran Church we got 43 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

June 30, at St. Francis Lutheran Church we got 43 pairs of glasses to LGBT homeless San Franciscans

On July 10th at Project Homeless Connect we got 40 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

July 31st at the Huckleberry House we got 45 pairs of glasses for homeless youth who are San Franciscans.

August 7th at Project Homeless Connect we got 41 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

 August 28th at Larkin Street Youth Services we got 43 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

September 11th at Project Homeless Connect we got 33 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

PHC 60 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium provided exams for over 200 homeless individuals.  66 of those exams were conducted using our equipment.

September 30th at Glide Memorial in the Tenderloin, we got 53 pairs of glasses for homeless San Franciscans.

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 1,887

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation and the Castro Lions Club for providing major financial support for this project!

Results from two more San Francisco Homeless Vision Events

Here are the results from two vision events (March 13th and April 10th) we held at the San Francisco Project Homeless Connect Office.  At these two events we provided 87 eye exams and prescription glasses for homeless San Franciscan's.

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 1,319

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation and the Castro Lions Club for providing major financial support for this project!

Vision Event Results: San Francisco's Tenderloin District

Today, our vision event at Lutheran Social Services in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, enabled 37 individuals to get eye exams and prescription glasses.

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 1,171

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation for providing major financial support for this project!

Results: November 2014 to February 2015: 1,134 Prescription Glasses Given Away!

We've been so busy hosting vision events that we have forgotten to post new results.  Here photos of the events we've hosted from November 2014 to February of 2015. November 1, 2014 we hosted an event at Chinatown Presbyterian with lots of great volunteers including students from Berkeley Optometry School.  24 exams and pairs of eye glasses were given away at the event!

In December 17th, our machines were at the Project Homeless Connect event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and  131 individuals received eye exams and prescription eye glasses.

In January we hosted two vision events.  On January 12th, 2015, our event at St. Paulus Lutheran Church in San Francisco's Polk Gultch District enabled 46 individuals to get exams and prescription eye glasses.

On January 27th, our event at Inglesia Santa Maria y Martha Lutheran in San Francisco's Mission District provided 39 eye exams and prescription glasses for individuals in need.


In February we hosted two vision events.  On February 6th, we held a vision event at St. Paulus Lutheran and got 30 individuals exams and prescription eye glasses.  On February 27th, our event at the MSC South Homeless shelter got 41 individuals prescription glasses.

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 1,134

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation for providing major financial support for this project!

September and October Vision Event Results in San Francisco

Diamond Heights Event  - 24 participants obtained eye exams and prescription eye glasses at the neighborhood health fair. 

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church - Sunset District- 35 participants got eye exams and prescription glasses at our neighborhood block party.

LGBTQ Connect - Castro District - 49 exams and prescription glasses were given away at this event.

The Gubbio Project at St. Boniface Catholic Church - Tenderloin District  - 35 exams and prescription glasses were obtained for the homeless individuals that sleep at the Gubbio Project.

Presbyterian Church of Chinatown - 25 exams and prescription glasses were given away at this event.

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 823

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation for providing major financial support for this project!

Results: Glasses given away in the Tenderloin and North Beach

 
Project Homeless Connect 55 -

We'd like to thank the 8 eye doctors, the 12 students from the UC Berkeley School of Optometry and the 9 opticians for 154 eye exams & 129 pairs of eyeglasses, plus the 22 volunteers that dispensed 640 pairs of reading glasses at  ‪#‎PHC55‬.

Special thanks to Ellen Barkley (Primary Eyecare Network) and Scott Balestreri (Bad Ass Optical Lab) for their participation and to Karen Flynn (The Optician in Berkeley) for her 7 years of service organizing & leading these vision volunteers.

Vision Event in North Beach at Sts. Peter and Paul with North Beach Citizens

We were able to get 30 people glasses at our event in North Beach.  Participants were also treated to a lovely warm meal by the members of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The total number of individuals who have received glasses though our Homeless Vision Project since October of 2013: 655

A huge thank you to St. Paulus Lutheran Church and The Sam Mazza Foundation for providing major financial support for this project!

Upcoming Events

• September 13- SFPD Academy, Diamond Heights District
• September 20- Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church (3201 Ulloa), Sunset District
• October - St. Boniface Gubbio Project, Tenderloin District
• November -Chinatown Presbyterian, Chinatown District

This weekend Grace Evangelical Lutheran in San Francisco we held another Health and Vision Event in San Francisco and 24 individuals were connected to proscription glasses.

  A big thank you to all the partners and volunteers who made today's event a success, including:

• 
• Welcome
• St. Paulus Lutheran Church 
• Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
• Dr. Soss
• Project Homeless Connect
• The Castro Lions Club
• And many others.

This project was made possible because of financial support from St. Paulus Lutheran Church and the Sam Mazza Foundation.

 

Our next event will be held at St. Cyprian's Episcopal/First United Lutheran in San Francisco on May 24th from 10am-3pm at the corner of Turk and Lyon.

Individuals connected to prescription glasses since our project began:349

Results for the January 18, 2014 San Francisco Health and Vision Event: Polk Gultch District

Today at Old First Presbyterian Church we held another San Francisco Health and Vision Event: 86 individuals received toiletries and socks, 55 individuals received sleeping bags, 43 individuals were connected to prescription eye glasses, 41 women received bras from  Be a Dear and Donate a Brassiere, 40 had their portraits taken by photographer Vince Donovan, 15 people got follow up appointments with social workers at Project Homeless Connect's Every Day Connect, 8 people signed up for Assurance cell phones, 7 individuals visited nurses, others recieved lunch, books and clothing.

 A big thank you to all the partners and volunteers who made today's event a success, including:

• SF CARES
• Old First Presbyterian Church
• Welcome
• St. Paulus Lutheran Church
• Project Homeless Connect
• Be A Dear and Donate a Brassiere
• Walgreens
• Vince Donovan
• Seminarians from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary 
• The Castro Lions Club

This project was made possible because of financial support from the Sam Mazza Foundation.  

Our next event will be held at St. Francis Lutheran Church (152 Church Street near Market) on February 22nd from 10am-3pm.

Individuals connected to prescription glasses since our project began: 166

Results for the December 19th Health and Vision Event at Old First Presbyterian in San Francisco

Hear stories and see pictures from our event:

Today at Old First Presbyterian Church we held another San Francisco Health and Vision Event: 45 individuals were connected to prescription eye glasses, 40 had their portraits taken by photographer Vince Donovan, 21 individuals visited nurses, 15 people got follow up appointments with social workers at Project Homeless Connect's Every Day Connect, 11 people signed up for Assurance cell phones, others learned about the upcoming changes to health insurance, received lunch, socks, chocolate and clothing.


A big thank you to all the partners and volunteers who made today's event a sucess, including:

• Old First Presbyterian Church
• Welcome
• St. Paulus Lutheran Church
• Project Homeless Connect
• SF PATH
• Vince Donovan
• SF CARES
• The Castro Lions Club

Individuals connected to prescription glasses since our project began: 123