Timberland Honors World Sight Day with Vision Care for Children in the Dominican Republic
Timberland employees celebrate the brand’s Serv-a-palooza event by joining forces to treat and prevent vision impairment
As part of Timberland’s annual global Serv-a-palooza event and in honor of World Sight Day, an annual day of awareness held in October to focus global attention of the issue of blindness in communities around the world, outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland partnered with a team of eye experts and Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) to treat vision impairment in the Dominican Republic. Joined by a shared commitment to social justice and a passion for serving the community, VOSH and Timberland volunteers offered free vision care and glasses to children of a local school in the Dominican Republic.
“As a company committed to making a difference in the communities we live and work, Timberland is always open to exciting new partnerships, like our collaboration with VOSH, that help us broaden our reach,” said Colleen Vien, Timberland’s director of sustainability. “Our employees in the Dominican Republic have always been champions of service, and we’re so proud of the impact they’ve continued to make on their local community.”
Approximately 285 million people are blind or visually impaired in the world today, but 80 percent of those occurences are avoidable. With 90 percent of people afflicted with blindness living in low-income countries, such as the Dominican Republic, Timberland volunteers in the Dominican Republic sprung into action. Timberland worked with New Hampshire optometrist Dr. Ilara Donarum to bring experts and optical assistants to the Dominican Republic to treat and prevent vision impairment at a school community that is home to 35 percent of Timberland Dominican Republic factory employees.
“Happiness is an important part of our mission, and Timberland’s support has provided such tremendous happiness,” said Oscar Faes Garcia, president of the Cometas de Esperanza Foundation in the Dominican Republic. “Timberland’s team of volunteers have put in so much hard work to successfully achieve what we have accomplished here.”
To learn more about Timberland’s support of the communities around the globe where its employees and consumers live, work and explore visit: https://www.timberland.com/responsibility/community.html.
