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Celebrating Excellence
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The Southwest Region’s Volunteer of the Year, Steve Browne (center in the hat), with his "Sight for Sore Eyes" VisionWalk team. |
Foundation National Trustee Steve Browne was presented with the Foundation’s Member Excellence Volunteer of the Year Award for the Southwest Region at the VISIONS 2012 national conference in Minneapolis in June. The honor recognizes his excellent service in support of the Foundation’s mission in 2011. Steve has been instrumental in raising awareness locally, and in the success of the 4th Annual San Antonio/Austin 5K VisionWalk earlier this year, leading one of the top fundraising teams in the nation. Over the last four years, his “Sight for Sore Eyes” team has raised an astounding $270,000 for vision-saving research. Congratulations Steve!
WALMART LEADS FIGHT AGAINST BLINDNESS AT 3rd ANNUAL SAN ANTONIO VISIONWALK
More than 600 spirited walkers came together for the Foundation Fighting Blindness’ 3rd Annual San Antonio VisionWalk on Saturday, April 2, to raise over $245K for blindness research. Presented by Walmart and the Voelcker Fund, the 5K VisionWalk took place at Brackenridge Park to benefit research that will lead to preventions, treatments and cures for retinal degenerative diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease, and numerous others. These sight-stealing diseases affect more than 10 million Americans of all races and ethnic groups, young and old.
The Foundation Fighting Blindness partnered with Walmart to engage more than 1,100 area associates to participate in “Save Your Vision Month” at Walmart Vision Centers in central, south and west Texas. Associates volunteered their time to walk in support of their San Antonio VisionWalk teams, raising $135K toward research on behalf of the Walmart Foundation. The program also educated participants about eye health with important wellness tips for their daily lives.
“Walmart’s community-focused commitment to promoting eye health and advancing sight-saving research has allowed the Foundation to double our San Antonio VisionWalk fundraising efforts in comparison to last year,” said Richard Faubion, Foundation Fighting Blindness director of development in Texas. “The organization’s support for our public health education program and the Foundation’s San Antonio Chapter is truly making a difference for many Texas families affected with vision loss.”
The top non-corporate VisionWalk team for 2011 was “Sight for Sore Eyes,” which rallied nearly $60K with more than 30 walkers. Since the VisionWalk program started in 2006, tens of thousands have taken part in local Walks across the country to raise more than $15 million for blindness research.
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Walmart VisionWalk participants cap off “Save Your Vision Month” by presenting the Foundation Fighting Blindness with a $135K donation.
left to right: Aaron Rager, VisionWalk event director; Richard Faubion, Foundation Fighting Blindness director of development; Jason Clem, Walmart team leader; and Steve Browne, Sight for Sore Eyes team captain and Foundation Fighting Blindness national trustee.
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