Four-year-old Darian loves her new, pink glasses. Thanks to the Sight & Hearing Association's Vision Voucher Project for Kids, those pink glasses were free. The Vision Voucher Project offers a free eye exam and eyeglasses to uninsured children who are screened through our program. Since the program's debut in 2002, Sight & Hearing Association has distributed more than 8,000 vision vouchers.

Before she was screened at Cherish the Children in Minneapolis, Darian started exhibiting signs of a potential vision problem. "She was squinting, blinking a lot and sitting real close to the television," said her mom. Screeners from SHA found her vision was 20/70 in her right eye and 20/40 in her left, with a slight misalignment of the eyes. Darian was referred and diagnosed with astigmatism and amblyopia, commonly called lazy eye. If left untreated, amblyopia leads to vision loss in the weaker eye. To help correct the amblyopia, her doctor prescribed glasses. The first time she put on her new, pink glasses, Darian exclaimed, "I can see everything now! I can see really far."