Our Story
It started with a simple question: why can't every child get glasses?
2010
A better, faster, cheaper way
Vision impairment touches all of our lives. Our friends and family wear glasses. Many of us grew up wearing them, or could only learn and work because of good eye care. But hundreds of millions of children in the developing world will never see an eye doctor or own a pair of glasses.
Lumoon Vision was founded in December 2010 and recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in January 2011. Our goal was to rethink charity vision care for children: free screenings, quality glasses made for each child, real transparency for donors, and a model that is better, faster and cheaper than the traditional approach.
August 27 – September 3, 2011
Our pilot in the Dominican Republic and Haiti
With our local partner, Gloria World Mission, we took our first team to the Dominican Republic and to a Haitian refugee settlement. We ran traditional vision screenings side by side with new portable technology to see how they compared in the field.
We trained local volunteers, screened children in schools and community spaces, and later delivered brand-new prescription glasses, each one made to a child's prescription and fitted to their face.
What we learned
Glasses kids actually want to wear
Recycled glasses fill a critical need, but they rarely match both eyes, and children often refuse to wear frames that don't fit or that they don't like. Reading glasses help adults, but not children with serious prescriptions.
So we chose new, custom glasses made for kids: flexible, durable frames in colors each child picks, with lenses made to their exact prescription. In Mexico we also tested unbreakable glasses for children through a "See Better, Learn Better" pilot.
Supported by
The partners who made our 2011 pilot possible
Gloria World Mission
Our local partner in the Dominican Republic, hosting screenings and distribution.
JetBlue Airways
In-kind sponsor of our field work.
Sesame Workshop
In-kind sponsor of our field work.
Augen Opticos
Our fulfillment lab in Ensenada, Mexico, making custom frames and lenses for each child.
PediaVision
Maker of the handheld Spot vision screener used by our field teams.
Fuse Project
Design partner on glasses made for kids.
Founders
The team behind Lumoon Vision
Eliot Kang
Co-founder
Eliot is a veteran of many business ventures, and an accidental hedge fund manager.
A. Hong
Co-founder
An advisor to nonprofits and social ventures, with a wide range of experience in the developing world.
Today
See the World, a Lumoon Vision project
Lumoon Vision has grown into a social innovation nonprofit that incubates solutions to barriers to essential services. See the World was our first project, and we're bringing it back with today's technology and a model built to last.
The goal hasn't changed: one child at a time, to see a better world.
About Lumoon Vision →Watch
Our 2011 pilot in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Watch on YouTube.