According to a press release, the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness (NCCVEH) has awarded Eye Thrive the 11th annual Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award, which recognizes the organization’s “Wraparound Vision Services” program as an outstanding model for advancing pediatric vision care in underserved populations. The award will be formally presented during a virtual ceremony on October 29, 2025.
Eye Thrive serves low-income children across the St. Louis metropolitan region through a comprehensive service model designed to address common barriers to care. The following initiatives are central to its program, which were outlined in the press release:
- Vision screenings conducted by NCCVEH-certified staff in school and community settings.
- 2 fully equipped mobile vision clinics, which provide on-site comprehensive eye examinations, same-day fabrication and dispensing of prescription glasses, and duplicate pairs for children who have high prescriptions or developmental needs.
- Referral systems that link children to Medicaid-qualified and low-cost specialists when advanced care is indicated.
- Eyeglass replacement programs, which offer free, no-questions-asked replacements delivered directly to schools or homes.
- Electronic medical record integration to ensure continuity of care across years of service and facilitating patient follow-up.
According to the press release, Eye Thrive has cultivated partnerships with more than 100 high-need schools and community centers. In the 2024 to 2025 school year, they served 17,747 children in low-income communities, performed nearly 4,800 comprehensive eye exams, dispensed just under 6,000 pairs of prescription glasses, and provided 168 medical referrals for further ophthalmic or specialty care.
The Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award was created in 2014 to honor individuals or organizations that have advanced public health approaches to children’s eye care at the state or national level. Past recipients include clinical leaders, such as Donny W. Suh, MD, FAAP, MBA, FACS, chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at UC Irvine, as well as innovative community-based programs.
Kate McKearn, MA, chief executive officer, and Brandon Hinkle, senior external optics coordinator, will accept the award on behalf of Eye Thrive and will present on the organization’s approach to children’s eye health. OM