Also a big deal was the role LCIF and Lions played at the games. The Special Olympics-Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes Program was on hand to provide eye care screenings for athletes. Some 2,400 athletes were screened. Nearly a third were found in need of corrective eyewear, and Opening Eyes volunteers, including many Lions, distributed 736 free pairs of glasses and 183 free sports goggles.

Opening Eyes was begun not only to provide better vision to the mentally disabled, an underserved population, but also to prevent blindness through early detection of eye disease, and the World Summer Games was no exception. A Special Olympics athlete from Thailand was discovered to be in urgent need of care for glaucoma.

"The screening allowed us to discover and treat this very serious problem," said Dr. Mark Wagner, director of Special Olympics Health and Research Initiatives.

In April, LCIF approved an 18-month extension of its eye screening partnership with Special Olympics. LCIF's Board of Trustees approved US$2 million to extend the program until June 30, 2005. The partnership was begun in 2001 thanks to a US$3.3 million LCIF grant. (The photo shows Timothy Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics, in Dublin.)

The Opening Eyes program has been highly successful. To date, 35,232 mentally challenged individuals have received vision screenings. Nearly 14,850 of those screened have received free prescription eyeglasses. Those numbers are expected to climb to 42,227 and 17,500, respectively, by the end of 2003.

To date, screening events have been held in 35 countries and 45 states in the United States. Sixty-nine events were held in 2002.

Lions have played an integral role in Opening Eyes. In 2002, 1,500 Lions volunteered at Opening Eyes events. Lions help in all non-technical aspects of the screenings such as registration, visual acuity testing, color vision testing and distribution of eye wear.

Reports from Lions districts involved in Opening Eyes have been overwhelmingly positive. Moreover, the program provides excellent LCI/LCIF identity and public recognition

Besides expanding the program into new countries, the additional US$2 million grant will create a global curriculum for eye care for the mentally retarded. The curriculum will address health concerns, eye and otherwise, common among those with mental retardation. The learning material is intended to provide continuing education credits for eye care professionals and to serve as an elective course for students of optometry and ophthalmology.

Opening Eyes intends to pilot the training program and its curriculum at two schools of optometry in the United States. Consultants to Special Olympics already have received support from the Association of Schools of Optometry and the World Council of Optometry.

Future Opening Eyes events will be held in Utah (USA), Oct. 2-4; Idaho (USA), Oct. 3-5; Guatemala, Oct. 3-4; New York (USA), Oct. 10-12; Seville, Spain, Oct. 31-Nov. 1; California (USA), Nov. 1-2; North Carolina (USA), Nov. 8; Hong Kong, Nov. 15; and Taipei, Nov. 22.

Special Olympics, founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, is an international year-round program of sports training and competition for individuals with mental retardation. To date, it serves more than 1 million athletes in over 160 countries who train and compete in 26 Olympic-type summer and winter sports.