By Shan Khan, R.O
In today’s competitive eye care landscape, success requires more than state-of-the-art equipment and skilled professionals. Increasingly, practices are turning outward, connecting with their communities, supporting local causes, and building trust beyond their storefronts. Whether through school visits, fundraising drives, wellness expos, or humanitarian missions, community engagement is proving to be a powerful bridge between purpose and practice.
This article spotlights four organizations, FYidoctors, IRIS, Specsavers, and Optometry Giving Sight, whose passionate initiatives demonstrate how outreach outside the clinic can bring more people through the door and leave a lasting impact on patients and communities alike.
FYidoctors: Turning Personal Loss into Purpose
For Satnam Singh, a clinic manager with FYidoctors, community engagement is profoundly personal. Since the loss of her 25-year-old son, Mundip, to suicide in 2021, Singh has devoted herself to raising awareness around mental health, working closely with the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. Her efforts have been amplified through FYidoctors’ Enhancing Life Month (ELM), a company-wide initiative that encourages each clinic to give back to the charity of their choice.
Thanks to Singh’s leadership and her clinic’s dedication, over $71,000 has been raised over the past three years, with hopes to surpass $100,000 this year. Fundraising events have included raffles, food drives, and team-building activities, all designed to not only raise funds but foster deeper community connections.
“This is a personal charity to me,” says Singh. “Mental health is more important now than ever. If you step outside your usual safety nets, you’ll notice the growing number of people struggling.”
Through ELM, FYidoctors has created a platform for grassroots-level impact, empowering local clinics across Canada to champion causes that resonate with them. In doing so, they have strengthened their ties to their communities and humanized their brand. For Singh and her team, it’s more than good PR; it’s a mission to heal, to connect, and to serve.
IRIS: Local Action, Global Vision, Humanitarian Eye Care Missions
In Quebec and across Canada, IRIS boutiques rally around the Fondation Charles-Bruneau, which funds pediatric cancer research. On weekly “Jeans Fridays” staff dress casually in exchange for donations, while fundraising raffles, payroll deductions, and active participation in events like the Tour CIBC Charles-Bruneau cycling challenge build morale and community momentum. Many IRIS team members don bike helmets themselves, pedalling for hundreds of kilometres to raise awareness and funds for children fighting cancer.
For over two decades, IRIS has embedded community involvement into its DNA, supporting both local health causes and global humanitarian missions.
Internationally, IRIS supports IRIS Mundial, a nonprofit that provides visual care in underserved regions. Teams of optometrists, opticians, and volunteers participate in humanitarian missions, delivering free eye exams and prescription eyewear to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to care. Before these missions, IRIS clinics organize “glasses corvées,” where staff sort, clean, and prep frames destined for communities in need.
Whether at home or abroad, IRIS’s approach reflects a generous spirit and a deeply rooted belief in making vision care a universal right.
Specsavers: Bringing Eye Care Where It’s Needed Most – Local Accessibility
From community centres to housing complexes and hospice kitchens, Specsavers teams across Canada are redefining what it means to serve.
In Barrie, ON, optician Lauri Brown leads an initiative in partnership with Simcoe Family Connexions to provide free monthly exams and glasses to underprivileged youth. The clinic also offers pop-up cleaning and adjustment services at senior residences and affordable housing complexes, bringing essential care directly to those who might struggle with mobility or transportation.
“It’s such a rewarding experience engaging with the residents and assisting them with their needs. Many remember us and look forward to our visits,” Brown shared.
At Specsavers locations in Guelph and Bolton, Ontario, teams have set up booths at multicultural festivals and wellness expos, engaging the public with education, giveaways, and friendly optical advice. In Duncan, BC, staff helped raise funds for the Royal Canadian Marine Search & Rescue, while in Ajax, their participation in a local golf tournament supported the Ajax Pickering Hospital Foundation.
What ties all of these initiatives together is a shared belief: eye care should be accessible, inclusive, and community-rooted. Specsavers teams aren’t waiting for patients to come to them; they’re showing up where people already are.
Optometry Giving Sight: Practice-Led Change on a Global Scale – World Sight Day Challenge Fundraising
For optometry clinics that want to turn their daily operations into a global force for good, Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) offers the perfect platform. Their flagship annual campaign, the World Sight Day Challenge, invites practices around the world to raise funds for projects that bring sustainable eye care to underserved populations.
In 2024, Henderson Vision Centre in Winnipeg took top honours, raising $11,540 through an inventive mix of events including year-round book sales, “Jeans Days,” patient raffles, and even donation drives tied to glasses adjustments. Staff also donated a full day of eye exam fees to the cause. Their commitment has helped fund vital care around the world and inspired other practices to aim higher.
Queensway Optometric Centre in Mississauga raised over $10,000 this year and has contributed more than $135,000 since 2009. Their fundraising methods include bake sales, silent auctions, and creative donation incentives like mystery bags and travel mugs. For the staff at Queensway, the goal was simple: match the doctors’ generous donation of eye exam fees with community-raised funds, and they succeeded.
Meanwhile, North Toronto Vision Care brought in $2,200 through a savvy local campaign that included gift basket raffles, front desk donation prompts, visual fundraising trackers, and strategic social media promotion. Their efforts demonstrate how small teams with big hearts can make a global difference, one dollar at a time.
Through OGS, clinics of all sizes can transform local community goodwill into lasting global impact, bridging practice and purpose in meaningful ways.
Engaging Outside, Growing Within: Benefits of Optometry Community Involvement
From mental health advocacy and youth support to cancer research and global outreach, the initiatives highlighted in this article reveal a powerful truth: community engagement doesn’t just benefit the community; it strengthens the clinic too.
When staff feel connected to a cause, morale rises. When clinics are visible in local spaces, be it seniors’ centres, schools, shelters, or social media, the public takes notice. When patients see their eye care provider as a force for good, they become advocates and not just customers.
To grow, sometimes the best thing a clinic can do is to step outside.
About the Author:
Shan Khan is an optician and educator passionate about advancing eye care and eyewear awareness in Canada.
As Editor-in-Chief of Optik Magazine, she brings a keen industry perspective and a commitment to spotlighting innovation, style, and professionalism across the optical landscape.
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