For a person experiencing homelessness, the ability to see well cannot be underestimated as one of the more essential building blocks in getting one’s life back on track. Many homeless individuals must rely on public transportation as their only method of navigating the city, and regardless of what stage a person is at in overcoming homelessness, escaping this fate almost always involves completing a form or application.

Unfortunately, homeless individuals face these types of situations every day. For most of us, correcting our vision is as simple as scheduling an appointment with an optometrist, and then deciding on eyeglasses, contact lenses or laser surgery. For a homeless person, such options do not exist.

Because so much of life’s daily routine is visual, assisting our homeless clients with their vision needs is an important program of Circle the City. Through an agreement with Arizona Lions Vision Center, homeless individuals with visual impairment are referred from the HCH Clinic for eye exams and glasses. We also fund ophthalmology consults for those who need a medical evaluation, and we have paid for treatment of diabetic eye disease and surgical procedures such as cataract removal.

The difference that eyesight makes in a person’s life can be found in the grateful words of Manuel – a client who received an operation to restore his sight. Manuel dictated this letter using both English and Spanish to convey his thanks. In the actual letter Manuel signed his own name, with the letters not quite in the right order, but straight from his heart.