Unite For Sight's Jennifer Staple Awarded BRICK Award, "The Oscars Of Youth Service Awards"

Jennifer Staple, Founder, President and CEO of Unite For Sight, was awarded a 2007 BRICK Award, which honors and funds change-makers age 25 and under who identify problems and do something to change the world.   CNN dubbed the BRICK Awards "the Oscars of youth service awards." Celebrities who have been involved in the BRICK Awards include: President Clinton, Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Fallon, Mary J. Blige, and Jewel.

The BRICK Award provides $10,000 to Unite For Sight.  According to the BRICK Awards website, winners also receive international recognition, televised glory, and a star-studded BRICK Awards Ceremony in Times Square, NYC.

Starting on March 1st, Unite For Sight will be featured on Yahoo as a BRICK Awards winner.  Yahoo visitors will vote to determine the Golden BRICK Awards winners, who will receive an additional $15,000 for their charity.

Jennifer joined 23 other finalists on January 19 in New York City to interview for the awards and for a special presentation by Susan Sarandon, a partner and supporter of the BRICK Awards.  The 24 finalists were selected from more than 1,000 applicants and nominations.  Twelve young adults received the BRICK Awards, and Jennifer is also eligible for an additional $15,000 for Unite For Sight after online voting on Yahoo.

Now a medical student at Stanford University, Jennifer founded Unite For Sight as a sophomore at Yale University.  During the previous summer, she worked as a clinical ophthalmology research associate in Connecticut.  While interacting with low-income patients, she learned about eye diseases that could have been prevented by early medical intervention.  Their poignant stories made her recognize the need for community programs to promote eye health, motivating her to found Unite For Sight.  What started with a single volunteer has now grown to a worldwide force of volunteers who are dedicated to targeting the more than 36 million people with undiagnosed and untreated cases of preventable blindness.

To date, Unite For Sight has provided services to more than 400,000 people worldwide as well as coordinated and sponsored 6,000 sight-restoring surgeries. Additionally, more than 200,000 eyeglasses have been collected and distributed. In addition to Unite For Sight's measurable impact, there is an equally compelling achievement. Doctors, nurses, students, and others, especially younger people, are "uniting for sight" across borders, economic status, and professional lines, allowing the organization to exceed its initial objectives.

Unite For Sight's programs and partnership with eye clinics and local communities are sustainable with a legacy of service and change. The communities where Unite for Sight works did not previously have access to eye care due to many barriers. In Tamale, Ghana, for example, partner ophthalmologist, Dr. Wanye, is the only eye doctor for 2 million people in the entire region. Prior to the partnership with Unite For Sight, Dr. Wanye often went months without providing a single cataract surgery because the community members could not afford the $35 cost of surgery. Unite For Sight volunteers now work with him to assist with screening outreach programs, and UFS funds the eye care for the patients. Likewise, at Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana, a dedicated group of refugee Unite For Sight volunteers now work daily to screen their local community members. Each of the volunteers participated in Unite For Sight eye education programs and received training from Unite For Sight Medical Advisory Board member Dr. James Clarke, an ophthalmologist located 1 hour from the refugee camp. Every day, the refugee volunteers identify patients with potential eye disease, and the patients subsequently are examined by Dr. Clarke's eye nurse Margaret Duah-Mensah, who visits several times per month. Those requiring treatment and surgery are brought to Dr. Clarke, and all of their eye care expenses are funded by Unite For Sight. The program at Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana is so successful that patients from the neighboring country of Liberia - a country with only 1 ophthalmologist for the entire population of 3.5 million - have been reported to travel to the refugee camp just to have their sight restored through Unite For Sight's programs.

Click Here To View A TNT Television Profile About Jennifer Staple [opens in RealPlayer]

About Unite For Sight

Unite For Sight® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Unite For Sight's unwavering commitment to creating a real, lasting impact involves three types of programs: chapters in North America, international eye care outreach programs, and an annual global health conference. Unite For Sight has trained more than 4,000 volunteers who work in their local communities and abroad to provide eye health programs for those without previous access and has provided eye care services to more than 600,000 people worldwide.

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