HOUSTON – The Houston Health Foundation is celebrating Aramco Americas’ visionary leadership and support of its Brilliant Futures program, See to Succeed, operated by the Houston Health Department.
Mayor Sylvester Turner will join Aramco Americas President Nabeel AlAfaleg on Tuesday to tour the See to Succeed mission and celebrate the impact of this safety net program for 6-to 18-year-olds with vision impairment, now in its 11th year of service.
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See to Succeed provides comprehensive eye exams during all-day eye clinics and then delivers the children’s eyeglasses three weeks later.
In support of this work, Aramco Americas donated $100,000 to the Houston Health Foundation. The only local pediatric vision program with the capacity to annually provide free comprehensive eye exams and glasses, See to Succeed helps more than 12,000 children each year.
See to Succeed partners with 16 Houston-area school districts in delivering a series of week-long vision clinics. The clinics provide vision screening, full optometry exams, frame selection and fitting for a pair of new, high-quality glasses for children lacking access to optometry services.
Aramco’s donation is generously supporting optometry, optical, and medical referrals.
Longstanding See to Succeed partners include the University of Houston College of Optometry, the San Jacinto College Eye Technology Program, Berkeley Eye Center, the Essilor Vision Foundation, Onesight and Access-Health.
Numerous organizations also contribute thousands of volunteer hours each year. The program has provided more than 94,000 glasses to Houston-area school children since 2012.
Each year, an estimated 20,000 school-aged children have unresolved vision impairment in the Houston area. Without See to Succeed’s essential services they may experience poor academic performance, attendance and behavioral problems.
In a local area study of See to Succeed participants, of the students who received free eyeglasses through See to Succeed, 80% with prior failing grades saw improvements the next year. Further, 68% of chronically absent students demonstrated improved attendance and 53% of students with documented disciplinary problems experienced no further disciplinary action.