When ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was building a new house for a New Jersey family with four blind members, producers decided to include a local eyeglass donation drive. Enter Jennifer Staple: her not-so-little college endeavor was going primetime.
As a Yale undergrad, Staple worked at an ophthalmology clinic and realized how many people in the United States suffer from preventable causes of blindness, like glaucoma. She started Unite For Sight to promote eye care and match people with programs that provide opthalmological services. The organization went global after Staple graduated—the group now also sends volunteers to clinics in 25 countries to help prevent blindness and distribute eyeglasses.
Now a Stanford medical student and still president and CEO of Unite For Sight, Staple was happy to appear on the Home Makeover episode, which aired in September. Local citizens and eyeglass manufacturers donated 800 pairs of glasses, adding to the 200,000 pairs Unite For Sight has provided around the world.
