On Tuesday, November 30, the Foundation hosted its Baltimore Visionary Awards Dinner at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. Three prominent members of the community – David Cordish, chairman of the Cordish Companies; Ray Lewis, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens; and Buffy Smith, vice president of the Ray Lewis Foundation – were honored with the Foundation’s Visionary Award in recognition of their outstanding contributions and commitments made to the Baltimore community and the Foundation’s mission.

Last spring, Frank Keane and the members of a RZR Off-Roading Forum rallied together to generously support one of their fellow members, Chad Johnson. Chad’s son, Cody, suffers from a rare disease known as Usher syndrome, a devastating condition causing both deafness and vision loss. They raised almost $20,000 for critical research through the Foundation’s Race to Cure Blindness Program.

Thank you to everyone who braved the rain and joined us for the 4th Annual Oregon VisionWalk at Duniway Park!  We had over 225 walkers and 28 fantastic teams participate in this year’s VisionWalk to help Foundation Fighting Blindness raise over $34,000 for critical retinal degenerative disease research!

The St.Margaret Mary Knights of Columbus Council #11091 sponsored the 11th Annual Hammer Open Charity Classic on Sunday, August 22nd.  Held at the Golf Club of Illinois in Algonquin, it included 94 golfers, over 50 sponsors, and 18 volunteers.  Once again, we were blessed with terrific weather, and participants who were generous in their support of our charities.

Congratulations to the Columbus Chapter!

On Friday, September 17 the Columbus Chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness held their 2^nd Annual Central Ohio Golf for Sight Classic at Cooks Creek Golf Club in Ashville, OH. The event was a huge success, with 50 participants and an impressive $7,800 raised to support critical research for retinal degenerative diseases. Golf enthusiasts participated to support the important work of the Foundation while enjoying a relaxing afternoon at one of Ohio’s premier courses rated 4 ½ stars by Golf Digest. Eighteen holes of golf was coupled with a post-round awards ceremony, cookout and silent auction.

On Saturday, October 23rd over 450 friends gathered at Rose Hill Farm to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Western Classic and Barbecue. This year’s event featured entertainment by Cadillac Sky, Gary P. Nunn and of course the Lea Brothers Band. We’re pleased to announce that the event raised well over $90,000! 

The bi-yearly Visions Ball took place on October 16, 2010 at 6:30 pm at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago.  The gala raised over $600,000 to drive research for treatments and cures for blindness caused by retinal diseases.  The event had 320 attendees.

On behalf of the San Diego Chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, we thank you for sharing in the success of the 2010 Dining in the Dark Visionary Awards Dinner.

This year’s Kansas City VisionWalk was a chilly 94 degrees compared to last year, and it was a GREAT day! More than 300 participants enjoyed walking around Kauffman Gardens and Theis Park to celebrate our fundraising efforts in support of the Foundation and the critical research it funds. Our teams and families did another amazing job of fundraising. We are still collecting donations over the next month to get as close as we can to our goal.

Hundreds of walkers gathered in Golden Gate Park for another beautiful Bay Area VisionWalk day of sunny skies and perfect walk weather.  Everyone worked together to raise over $115,000 for sight-saving research and the donations are still coming in!