KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hundreds of students in the Kansas City metro area will soon be seeing things more clearly thanks to a non-profit organization and several local groups.
This week, OneSight is holding a free vision screening event at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences campus. OneSight is a non-profit that travels around the country providing free eye exams and eyewear to students in need.
Nearly 500 K-12th grade students in the metro will get a free eye exam and pick out a free pair of glasses if needed.
Jo'siah Berryman attends Eastwood Hills Elementary School in the Raytown School District. For Berryman, reading the board during class was always a difficult task, leading him to move to the front of the room.
"Yeah, I always had to go to the carpet to copy my agenda, do my work, things like that," said Berryman.
Wednesday, he took home his first pair of glasses, as did many other students.
OneSight program director, Steve Stockton said one in four kids need glasses. Tuesday, Stockton said OneSight saw 138 kids and 94 percent of them needed glasses.
"Most of the kids that come to our clinic will walk out with a pair of glasses the same day," said Stockton.
OneSight partnered with Score 1 for Health for the third year in a row. Score 1 for Health does the pre-screenings that brought students to the free clinic.
"We provide vision screenings for over 12,000 children every year," said Annette Campbell, Director of Score 1 for Health.
Each year, OneSight provides free eye exams and eyewear to more than 240,000 people worldwide.
This week the non-profit will serve students from Independence, Hickman Mills, North Kansas City, Raytown, Kansas City Kansas Public Schools and Kansas City Public Schools.
The clinic runs through October 5.
