If you want to look trendy, cool AND help people around the world, TOMS has your products. You’ve probably heard of TOMS shoes or even own a pair of their classic style and know that with every pair sold, a pair is given to someone in need. But did you know now they sell amazing sunglasses? Of course, these also come with a guarantee: with every pair of sunglasses sold, TOMS will help give the gift of sight to a person in need, whether it is sight-saving surgery, eyeglasses, or medical treatment.
Remember in school when you were squinting to read the board and had your teacher and mom tell you that surely, you needed glasses. Shortly after you had your first eye exam and got your first new specs. But not everyone in the world has this luxury of clear sight. Did you know that blindness and visual impairment is the seventh-largest health disability in the world? Yet, in most cases it can be prevented or treated. In fact, available solutions, including medical treatment, prescription eyeglasses or a 15-minute cataract surgery, could impact 80% of people afflicted with vision impairment and blindness.
Of the nearly 284 million people in the world who are visually impaired, almost 90% live in developing countries. It’s a vicious cycle — poverty and disease can lead to vision loss. And blindness and poor vision keep people trapped in poverty. More than 18 million children around the world suffer from blindness or impaired vision. Children who have trouble seeing are often unable to go to or succeed in school, and have fewer chances to achieve a productive and successful life.
Two-thirds of people who are blind are women, in part because many families in developing countries are more likely to pay for eye care for male family members. By providing easy to access local eye care, we can help more women and girls around the world get sight saving and restoring services.
Many of the solutions to blindness and visual impairment can be immediate. If it’s a pair of eyeglasses or medical treatment that’s needed, patients are treated on the spot. Those needing eye surgery are referred immediately so their vision can be restored within just a few days.
Regaining sight and preventing loss of sight transforms lives. Children can go to school the next day, and many adults return to work within a week and are once again able to provide for their families. When more people are able to lead healthy, productive lives, entire communities have a chance at a better future. TOMS is leading the way with helping people finally see and you can help!
TOMS sunglasses come in three different styles: wayfarer, aviator, and the big, round shape for women. For men, they come in wayfarer and aviator and all the sunglasses are either $135 or $145. Already in popular demand, these sunglasses are sturdy and provide great UVA, UVB protection from the sun. The best part of getting fabulous new shades? Knowing you’ll help someone see that otherwise might have never been able to.
Still curious about the brand and the founder of TOMS? No, it wasn’t a man named Tom, but Blake Mycoskie. Mycoskie is the Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, and the man behind the growing One for One movement. As of April 2010, TOMS has given over 600,000 pairs of new shoes to children in need through giving partners around the world.
It didn’t take long for the world to notice this new approach to business – in 2007, only a year after its beginning, TOMS was honored with the prestigious People’s Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. And two years after that, TOMS and Blake Mycoskie were the proud recipients of the Secretary of State’s 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) presented by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton. The award celebrates companies’ commitment to corporate social responsibility, innovation, exemplary practices, and democratic values worldwide.
While running TOMS, Blake is a sought-after speaker at campuses and conferences all over the country. He is passionate about inspiring young people to help make tomorrow better, encouraging them to include giving in everything they do, from business practices to day-to-day decisions. His hope is to see a future full of socially minded businesses, and consumers.
This unique vision for the future came into focus in 2006, when he witnessed the hardships facing children growing up barefoot in Argentina. He felt a need to help, and the One for One movement was born. He returned the following year with friends and family to hand-place 10,000 pairs of new shoes on children.
Blake has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, starting five businesses before TOMS. His first was a successful national campus laundry service, which he later sold. Between business ventures, Blake competed in the CBS primetime series, The Amazing Race. With his sister, Paige, Blake traveled the world and came within minutes of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize.
Information courtesy of TOMS. To read more about the brand, the one for one program, or shop, check out TOMS.com. You can buy them wherever TOMS are sold – we know they’re at Nordstroms!
Check out the original article on ASKinyourface.com!
Since visual impairments are widespread in societies, eye glasses or an annual check up with an optometrists is necessary.
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