The Vision of Children Foundation

Each donation will go towards curing hereditary childhood blindness and vision disorders. 

Congratulations to our Power Hour winners: Gail Kendall, Michael Hermansen, Chase Hardage, & Isabel Coolbaugh!

*Giveaway terms and conditions apply, see official rules. Valid email address is required. Minimum $10 donation per giveaway required to be automatically entered. Limit one (1) entry per person, per giveaway or Power Hour. US Residents only. Four (4) total winners will be selected and notified by email on or around September 15, 2022. Instructions on how to receive gift card will be emailed to the address listed. Offer is non-transferable and not redeemable for cash. Void where prohibited. Giveaway begins August 18, 2022, and ends September 8, 2022.

Our Story

The Vision of Children Foundation (VOC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Diego, CA. 

In 1989, doctors predicted a dim future for Sam and Vivian Hardage’s son, who was born with ocular albinism type 1 (OA1), a rare, but debilitating, genetic eye disease. Ophthalmologists told them that there was “no treatment,” “no cure” and “no hope.” Very little was known about the disorder because few scientists were researching hereditary vision disorders. So, in 1991, the San Diego couple established the Vision of Children Foundation.

Vision of Children was created with a mission to encourage scientific research and support health projects focused on treating and eradicating genetic vision disorders in hopes to one day discover the cure. Over the past thirty years, VOC has provided support services for children living with blindness or visual impairment and their families, and encouraged scientific exploration of genetic vision disorders by supporting researchers at leading institutions worldwide.

“Our researchers have made extraordinary progress,” said Sam Hardage, VOC Board Chairman. “Among many breakthroughs, they have isolated genetic mutations for eye diseases and developed genetic tests.” Inherited eye diseases (in which faulty genetic material is passed by the mother or father to the newborn) cause more than 60 percent of cases of blindness among infants, according to the Cleveland Clinic. To raise critical funding for this research, we rely on support from individuals, corporations, and community partners. 

In addition to supporting genetic research, we provide education and support for a worldwide network of families affected by vision disorders; we provide state-of-the-art vision aids to assist low-vision children in need; and we aim to honor young people who have overcome their vision challenges and are living extraordinary lives by featuring them in Vision Heroes videos and blog posts.

Your support could actually help restore vision in people who have been blind or visually impaired since birth. 

2022 Research Progress:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35686978/

We appreciate your support!