On March 15th Von Miller's foundation held its annual Von's Vision Day. 55 volunteers provided eye screenings to over 170 underpriveledged Denver children. The kids being screened ranged in age from 5-19 and came from local organizations such as Boys and Girls Club and Elevate Big Brother Big Sisters.
Von Miller created Von's Vision in 2012 with the mission "to better the vision of Denver-area youth by providing them needed eye examinations and eyewear to succeed in the classroom and in life."
86% of of the children screened on the 15th were found to be in need of vision correction. Yes, you read that right, 86 percent. That's 146 children who need glasses to see properly and didn't have them. The children were able to pick out frames for their new glasses which will be distributed at a pizza party celebration at Sports Authority Field at the beginning of April. Von Miller will be there to help distribute the glasses for this celebration (as will MHR).
.@Millerlite40 Von's Vision provided eye screenings for 170+ kids this weekend, including some from @BGCMetroDenver! pic.twitter.com/4qWjulYfqS
— Broncos Off Field (@BroncosOffField) March 17, 2015
Beyond helping over a hundred kids get glasses, one family received even more important news. One child screened at Von's Vision Day was discovered to have a life threatening disease.
Jeff Lees is an optician and member of Von's Vision Executive Board. "It's incredible when you think about those numbers," Lees said. "To think that many of these children have never seen an eye doctor, with the kind of prescriptions we've been seeing, this will change their lives."
Last April Von's Vision distributed 104 glasses to children in need of eye correction. Late last year Miller spoke to DenverBroncos.com about the creation of his foundation.
"I didn’t want to do a football camp or something football-related," Miller replied when asked how he came up with the idea for his foundation. "I wanted to go outside the box and do something different that nobody else was doing. I was just sitting around one day looking at my glasses and I started talking about glasses with my agent—my agent wears glasses too. He said, ‘I remember when I was young and only had one pair of glasses.’ And I said, ‘Man, I remember that too!’ That’s where it all started for me; I figured I could give glasses to kids in need."
Miller went on to quote Spiderman (which surely goes over well with the kids), "with great powers comes great responsibility" when asked why it's important to be involved in community work. "It's just something that I feel I have to do," said Miller.
You can hear more from Miller about his foundation and see Von's Vision day in action in the video below.
You can make a donation to Von's Vision (they suggest a $20 donation to help 1 child) here.
Go Broncos!