Steven Stern began volunteering in Jamaica in 2005 with the Great Shape! Inc. dental team 1000 Smiles program. People would persistently ask him if he could help them with their eye problems. On one of these occasions in Jamaica in 2008, he gave a woman a pair of reading glasses when she told him her vision was getting blurrier as she aged, and she could no longer read. She put on the glasses, looked at her bible, and burst into tears as she was able to read for the first time in 10 years. This incredible transformation of her life from a simple gift of reading glasses moved him deeply. Upon his return he founded a program called iCARE in 2009. Since that time over 1400 volunteers have provided over 75,000 patients in 9 countries (Jamaica, Peru, Mexico, Turks & Caicos, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, Bahamas, and Grenada) with free eye care worth over US$22 million in goods and services. These include glasses, medications, nursing services, and surgeries/procedures for cataract, MIG (Microinvasive Glaucoma), SLT (Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty for glaucoma), and PRP (Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy). Steven founded Sight is a Right in 2017 to expand outreach throughout the year and the world.
2023 MISSIONS
7,800 SERVED IN 2023 (see 2023 Year End Letter)
2023 was another successful year for Sight is a Right. In our great partnership with Great Shape! Inc. iCARE, we were able to complete four more life-changing missions. In April we finally made it back to Carhuaz, Peru – a beautiful indigenous village nestled deep in the Andes that we planned to serve in spring of 2020. In the summer we served for the first time in The Bahamas. Finally, we completed our usual two autumn clinics in Jamaica.
Our 143 volunteers treated 7,800 patients in our clinics, hospitals, and several schools. We distributed 2,658 pairs of prescription glasses, 4,791 pairs of reading glassing, and 7,970 pairs of sunglasses. We also conducted 3,421 health screenings. The value of goods and services provided just in 2023 is over US$2.530 million.
For more details, please see our 2023 Mission Reports: Carhuaz Peru 2023 Mission Report, Informe de Misión Carhuaz Perú 2023 , iCARE Bahamas 2023 Report, and iCARE Jamaica 2023 Report.
2022 Missions
NEARLY 8,500 SERVED IN 2022 (see 2022 Year End Letter)
2022 was a tremendous year for Sight is a Right. In partnership with Great Shape! Inc. iCARE, we were able to complete four successful missions – the most since Covid times. We served for the first time in the Yucatan and in Barbados, as well as conducting our usual two weeks of clinics in Jamaica.
Our 125 volunteers treated nearly 8,500 patients in our clinics and several schools. We distributed 2,114 pairs of prescription glasses, 5,759 pairs of reading glassing, and 7,869 pairs of sunglasses. We also conducted 3,495 health screenings. The value of goods and services provided in 2022 alone is valued at over US$2.5 million.
For more details, please see our 2022 Mission Reports: Maya Vision 2022 Mission Report, Informe de la Misión Maya Visión 2022, iCARE Barbados 2022 Mission Report, and iCARE Jamaica 2022 Report.
2021 Missions
2,323 SERVED IN 2021 (see 2021 Year End Letter)
With the pandemic still ongoing, we were only able to conduct one clinic this year. In partnership with Great Shape! Inc., Sight is a Right served with iCARE St. Lucia 2021. We treated 2,323 patients during 5 days – providing health screenings, full eye exams, 246 SLT laser procedures for glaucoma, 25 PRP laser procedures for diabetic retinopathy, 870 reading glasses, 1,800 sunglasses, and 553 custom, prescription glasses. The value of goods and services is estimated at over US$743,914.
For more details, please see our 2021 Mission Report: iCARE 2021 St Lucia Report.
2020 Missions
WE WERE UNABLE TO CONDUCT CLINICS IN 2020 DUE TO THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC (see 2020 Year End Letter)
2019 Missions
OVER 8,528 SERVED IN 2019 (see 2019 Year End Letter)
Our team of 30 volunteers served in the beautiful community of Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico for 4 days of clinic from April 29 to May 2, 2019. We served, free of cost, 3,113 in the community providing health screening, complete eye exams, prescription glasses, reading glasses, and sunglasses. The value of goods and services is over US$480,797 delivered, with US$74.90 in value for every project dollar spent. Our total overhead is 1.4% for goods and services delivered.
For more details, please see our Todos Santos 2019 Mission Report.
In partnership with Great Shape! Inc., Sight is a Right supported iCARE Antigua 2019. We served 2,126 patients during 4.5 days – providing health screening, full eye exams, reading glasses, sunglasses, and over 320 custom, prescription glasses. The value of goods and services is estimated at over US$347,087.
For more details, please see our iCARE 2019 Antigua Report.
In partnership with Great Shape! Inc. we served 3,289 Jamaican patients in Mt. Carey, St. James and Ocho Rios, St. Ann 8 days of clinic – providing health screening, full eye exams, 1,390 reading glasses, 3,292 sunglasses, and 31,475 prescription glasses. We also performed 41 cataract surgeries, 22 MIG surgeries (for glaucoma), 291 SLT laser surgeries (for glaucoma), and 42 PRP laser surgeries (for diabetic retinopathy). The value of goods and services delivered is estimated at over US$1.89 million. Big up to our two amazing teams of volunteers.
For more details, please see our iCARE 2019 Jamaica Report.
2018 Missions
OVER 10,865 SERVED IN 2018!
Our team of 27 served March 2018 in Zorritos – Tumbes, Peru where we provided 1,992 patients in just 4 days with health screening, full eye exams, reading glasses, sunglasses, and prescription glasses. The value of goods and services is over US$528,469 delivered, with US$8.72 value for every project dollar spent, and only 3% total overhead for goods and services delivered.
For more details please see our Peru 2018 Mission Report.
In partnership with Great Shape! Inc., Sight is a Right served on iCARE 2018 projects conducting missions in July/August 2018 in Providenciales, Turks & Caicos, and in October/November 2018 in the Jamaican communities of Steer Town – St. Ann, Falmouth – Trelawny, and Little London – Westmoreland. We served over 8,873 patients during 13.5 days – providing health screening, full eye exams, cataract surgery, SLT glaucoma surgery, PRP diabetic retinopathy surgery, reading glasses, sunglasses, and prescription glasses. The value of goods and services is estimated at over US$2.12 million.
For more details, please see our iCARE 2018 Final Report.
Our Mission Statement
Providing free healthcare services to underserved communities throughout the world – with a focus on eye care.
Our Philosophy
We believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right that should be available to everyone regardless of their economic circumstances. We identify underserved communities throughout the world and provide them with free healthcare services, with the primary focus of eye care.
Our Goal
To harness our resources to serve as many people in need as possible, and to ultimately create sustainable clinics that provide healthcare for underserved communities staffed predominately with local providers.