A Few Seconds That Could Change a Child’s Life

A mother approached Maggie Crisafi at a preschool event with a question that made Maggie a little nervous:

“Were you the person who did the vision screenings?”

Maggie was not quite sure where the conversation was going, but she confirmed that she was. Then the mother told her something Maggie would never forget.

The screening had indicated that her child should be referred to an eye doctor. The family followed up right away, and the doctor discovered a very serious eye condition. According to the mother, if the condition had not been found when it was, the child could have lost that eye completely. She had come to thank Maggie and the Garner Lions Club for helping save her child’s sight.

That story is one of the clearest examples of why Lions are so passionate about children’s vision screening.

Finding Problems Before Children Know Something Is Wrong

Maggie and John Crisafi of the Garner Lions Club recently visited the Apex Lions Club to talk about Lions KidSight USA and the importance of children’s vision screening. Maggie and John are also serving this year as the KidSight USA Committee Chairs for North Carolina Lions District 31S.

KidSight is a Lions program designed to help identify children who may have vision problems and connect families with appropriate follow-up care. That early detection matters. Most children are visual learners, but many young children do not realize when something is wrong with their vision. If they have never seen clearly, they may simply assume that everyone sees the world the same way they do.

Some childhood vision conditions also become more difficult to treat as children get older. That makes early screening especially important. KidSight helps Lions reach children before those opportunities for successful treatment become more limited.

A Screening That Takes Only Moments

KidSight screenings use specialized vision screening devices that can evaluate children without requiring them to read letters from an eye chart. That is especially helpful for very young children. The screening is quick, touchless, and designed to look for risk factors that may indicate a vision problem. If the screening identifies a concern, the child is referred to an eye care professional for a complete examination.

The screening itself does not diagnose a condition. It simply helps identify children who may need a closer look. Sometimes that referral leads to a pair of glasses. Sometimes it leads to treatment for a condition such as amblyopia, often called lazy eye. And sometimes it leads to a discovery as serious as the one made after Maggie and John’s preschool screening. That is why those few moments can matter so much.

KidSight Earns National Recognition

The impact of Lions KidSight USA has also been recognized nationally. In 2025, the program received the Champion for Vision award from the Children’s Eye Foundation of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. The award recognized KidSight’s work helping identify children who may need professional eye care.

Lions Clubs International Foundation also supports Lions clubs involved in KidSight by providing grant opportunities that can help clubs obtain the specialized vision screening equipment needed to provide these services. For Lions, vision has been a central cause for generations. KidSight is one of the ways that commitment continues in communities across the country.

Lions Are Doing This Work Right Here in Our Community

This is not just a national program. It is happening right here in Apex and throughout North Carolina. Both the Garner Lions Club and the Apex Lions Club own vision screening equipment and provide free screenings whenever opportunities are available.

The Apex Lions have screened children at community events such as PeakFest and at Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School for several years. We would love to provide this service even more widely to local schoolchildren. Opportunities within Wake County public schools are currently limited because the school system has arrangements with another provider, but that has not stopped Lions from looking for other ways to reach families.

One of those opportunities is coming soon. The Apex Lions plan to provide vision screenings at the Touch-a-Truck event on October 6. If you are attending with your family, make sure to stop by and see us. A free screening takes only a short time, and it could identify something worth having checked by an eye doctor.

A Statewide Effort to Protect Vision

North Carolina Lions are working together to make vision screening available across the state. Lions in North Carolina have five Vision Vans that can be used for mobile screenings and are available to Lions clubs throughout the state. Many individual clubs also own their own screening devices.

Maggie and John shared that Lions across North Carolina screened approximately 53,000 people last year. That is an impressive number, but the real impact is found in the individual stories behind it. One child who gets the glasses they need. One family that discovers a condition early. One student who can finally see clearly enough to learn comfortably. And, occasionally, one mother who walks across a room to find the Lions volunteer who helped save her child’s eye.

This Is Why We Serve

When Lions talk about protecting sight, we are talking about real people in our own communities. We are talking about children who may not know they cannot see clearly. We are talking about parents who might never suspect that something is wrong. And we are talking about volunteers who give a few hours of their time because those few hours might make a lifelong difference for someone else. That is what Lions service looks like.

If your preschool, church, homeschool group, community organization, or children’s program is interested in learning more about a possible vision screening, we would love to hear from you. And if helping your neighbors through projects like KidSight sounds like something you would enjoy, come meet the Apex Lions Club. Visitors are always welcome, and there are many ways to serve.

Learn more about the Apex Lions Club at https://ApexLions.org and about Lions KidSight USA at https://www.lionskidsightusa.org/.

Because sometimes changing a child’s future starts with something as simple as helping them see clearly.