By Howard Greninger
TERRE HAUTE — Bringing people into focus with a pair of new glasses is a community mission for a new optometry program at St. Ann Medical Clinic.
It’s a program that benefited Tuesday from a $500 grant from the Terre Haute Rotary Club. The clinic was one of 12 nonprofit organizations to receive part of $5,700 in community grants from the Rotary’s foundation.
“We started a new optometry program on the first of October. I applied for the grant to provide glasses to folks that need glasses. We saw 29 people in October, so we are on the way,” said Sister Lawrence Ann Liston, clinic administrator.
The clinic at 1436 Locust St. serves people 18 and older who are without insurance, without a physician and who are at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level.
Liston said the clinic had not provided eye care since the start of 2009 when a private optometry business ended its service to the clinic. Now the clinic, through the aid of fundraisers, has purchased optometry equipment.
“We have an optometrist, Darla Heck-Sacopulos, who is donating her time to the clinic,” Liston said. “Our clinic is run primarily by volunteers. We have 109 active volunteers.”
Last year, those volunteers served a recorded 17,091 hours, equating to more than $788,000 in donated services, Liston said.
Jenny Thomas, director of the Vigo County Education Foundation, said a $500 grant will help the foundation with a tutoring program for reading and writing improvement at West Vigo Middle School.
“We polled teachers and spoke with administrators and one of the places where they needed some extra help was in the West Vigo area,” Thomas said.
The foundation in 2008 committed to a three-year funding, at $25,000 per year, to provide after-school tutoring at Consolidated, West Vigo and Fayette elementary schools and before-school tutoring at West Vigo Middle School.
“Every little bit helps,” Thomas said of the grant. “We are anxious to see the results and the impact this [program] is having.”
Cindi Goss, president of the Terre Haute Women’s Club, said the club each year sponsors and operates a modified van to deliver nearly 1,200 pairs of new shoes and 2,500 pairs of new socks to Vigo County school age children in need.
“The need is so great this year,” Goss said. “Some children are wearing their mother’s or brother’s shoes and some have no toe [coverings] on their worn shoes. Some would not have shoes without our help,” she said.
The club received a $500 grant to operate the shoe bus. “We have been giving shoes for 32 years to the community,” Goss said.
David Bolk, grant committee chairman for the Rotary Club, said 25 applicants sought about $20,000 in funding this year. The grant money was distributed to nonprofit agencies during the club’s weekly meeting at the Holiday Inn at Interstate 70 and U.S. 41.
“The money comes from our Rotary foundation, with some of that money coming from [club] dues as well as returns from our investments,” Bolk said. “We will do this next year. We put the grant application on the Rotary Web site, which goes up each year about July 1.”
The Rotary Web site is www.throtary.org. The deadline to submit an application is the end of August. A committee then makes final selections for grant recipients.
The 12 agencies receiving Rotary grants are Vigo County Education Foundation ($500), Junior Achievement ($500), West Terre Haute Community Center ($500), Bright Hope Riders Therapeutic Riding Program ($300), CHANCES for Indiana Youth ($500), Chauncey Rose Middle School ($200), Community Alliance and Services for Young Children ($500), Ryves Youth Center ($500), St. Ann Medical Clinic ($850), Terre Haute Children’s Museum ($500), Terre Haute Women’s Club ($500) and Woods Day Care and Pre-School ($350).
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
