I Care International is making final arrangements for our free optometry clinic in San Alejo, El Salvador. Each patient gets a thorough eye exam and glasses if needed. We’ve been asked by our hosts, Rotary Club Siramá San Miguel, to devote our first clinic day to the Agape Home, a children’s facility near San Miguel, providing eye exams and glasses for the children, staff, and community surrounding the home. We look forward to a new experience there.
The success of our clinics outside the U.S. depends on the quality of our hosts in arranging clinic details, marketing the clinic locally, and recruiting volunteers to help us during our stay. We’ve worked with this rotary club before, and they have proven themselves both organized and hard working. It makes everything better, but especially the quality of the services we give to those who most need them.
We’re traveling with five optometrists (all women by the way), two 4th year optometry students from University of Missouri-St. Louis, and 6,000 pairs of used eyeglasses provided by the Lions Club, I Care members, and friends and family. In addition, we bring state of the art optical equipment which makes it possible for us to serve large numbers of people in a short time.
Volunteers will arrive separately in San Salvador from LA and Chicago airports and be taken to the Tropico Hotel in San Miguel. We will be transported by bus each day to our worksite in San Alejo.
Thanks to everyone who has helped us put this clinic together. We’ll give you a full report on the outcome when we get home.
-Special Projects-
We had asked for help with some specific supplies for the kids at the Agape Home and the response we received was heartwarming. We received daily deliveries of supplies for the children and they will enjoy it all! Some of you made a monetary donation. Because of that, we can also make a cash donation to the Agape Home. How awesome is that!
The children will each receive a homemade gift bag made by Kay Willis and Jill Odom. Morris High School National Honor Society students helped assemble the bags specifically for each child filled with many necessities they need and some special extras of course!!
A group of kids from Seneca, along with some adults, made over 300 Friendship bracelets to share with the children we will see. This project took many weeks to complete for the kids due to their busy schedules, and Kylee Rowley took the lead. They turned out so awesome! Special thanks to Kylee!
More to come on this topic!
Thanks again to all who work so hard to help us throughout the year to make these clinics possible! We look forward to sharing our stories with you!