Women and Minorities Optical Association Rewards Kansas Optician for Charitable Assistance to Kidnap Victim
WAMOA Gives First Award to Dee Schmidt
In March 2009, the Women and Minorities Optical Association (WAMOA) formed to improve visibility and opportunities for women and minorities in the optical industry. At the helm is Wendy Schneider, sales manager of OptiSource International.
“WAMOA was formed with the idea of ‘each one teach one,’ so less visible members of the industry can have an opportunity to share experiences,” Ms. Schneider says.
Mentoring will be a large part of the way WAMOA works to better its members. “Women and minority members of the optical industry who have achieved career success can now assist others who are just starting out or who have encountered obstacles to moving ahead,” Ms. Schneider adds. “Through WAMOA, our successful members have a new way to offer a helping hand to those climbing the ladder.”
WAMOA also supports the goal of eyecare for all. To demonstrate that WAMOA is putting its money where its mouth is, WAMOA is giving an award of $250 to a member of the optical community who has donated time, money or goods to a worthy optical cause, and is donating an additional $250 to an optical charity of the winner’s choice, to be awarded at Vision Expo East at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Room 1D05, 655 West 34th Street, New York City, on March 27, 2009, at 3 p.m.
The awards are sponsored by OptiSource International. Opportunities to apply for additional WAMOA awards, as well as scholarships for optometric and opticianry students, will be announced in the near future. Membership is available now.
AND THE WINNER IS …
WAMOA President Wendy Schneider is presenting the organization’s first award to Dee Schmidt, an optician at Myoptix Fashion Eyewear in Wichita, Kan.
“We received many nominations of people who performed tremendous acts of charity,” Ms. Schneider says. “It was very difficult to select a winner for our first award, but Dee Schmidt’s kindness really stood out. She took the initiative to meet the eyecare needs of someone whom no one else thought to approach,” she adds.
Here is Dee Schmidt’s story:
In June 2008, a convenience store clerk in Viola, Kan., just outside Wichita, was abducted at gunpoint, held for four days and repeatedly sexually assaulted. (The victim’s name is being withheld out of respect for her privacy.) Her abductor, Robert Abner, finally released her to her pastor and then fled the state. His victim later was able to testify against him in a Kansas courtroom.
During the four days that the victim was missing, concerned citizens in the Wichita area watched the news and prayed for her safe return. After the victim was released, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and went back to business as usual – except for optician Dee Schmidt.
Ms. Schmidt, who works at Myoptix Fashion Eyewear in Wichita, saw a photo of the kidnapping victim in the local news and observed something that only an eyecare professional would see: “I noticed her glasses were ‘disheveled,’” Ms. Schmidt says.
So instead of flipping to the next news story, Ms. Schmidt reached out to perform an act of kindness: She offered the victim new eyewear.
“I called her and asked her whether she would like a new pair of glasses,” Ms. Schmidt recalls. “And she told me she hadn’t had an eye exam in 10 years.”
Ms. Schmidt convinced Eric P. Kitchen, O.D., also of Wichita, to donate an eye exam to the victim, which he gladly did. Ms. Schmidt then went to work on getting lenses, which Jim Herring of Duffens Optical Company, Wichita, was happy to offer. She also talked her boss, Myoptix Owner Jim Herrscher, into providing the frame, a Menizzi 1081, and the new eyewear was complete.
But Ms. Schmidt didn’t stop there. She contacted neighboring shops and convinced them to provide something for the kidnapping victim, too. “The retailers donated little gifts,” she says.
“Violence against women happens all too often,” Ms. Schmidt remarks. “I couldn’t do anything to prevent her ordeal, but I could do something for her afterward. It’s about paying it forward,” she adds.
WAMOA President Wendy Schneider is awarded Ms. Schmidt with $250 that she may use however she pleases. In addition, Ms. Schmidt has selected RAM USA‘s Remote Area Medical Foundation’s Rural AMerica Project as the charity to which WAMOA will donate an additional $250.
Because Ms. Schmidt is busy minding the store and unable to travel to New York to attend Vision Expo East, Izzy Hersh, Sales and Marketing Manager for Menizzi Eyewear, is accepting the award on her behalf.
“I had no idea that Dee Schmidt provided this wonderful act of kindness until I was informed that she won the WAMOA award,” Mr. Hersh says. “When I found out what she had done, I sent her a replacement frame. Menizzi is honored to have played a part in helping a crime victim recover from her ordeal.”
Women and Minorities Optical Association (WAMOA) is dedicated to improving the visibility and opportunities of women and minorities in the optical industry while supporting the goal of eyecare for all. Learn more about WAMOA as it grows by checking the Web site at www.wamoassociation.org. To request membership, simply e-mail info@wamoassociation.org.
Similar Posts:
- Eyes Of Faith Partners With RestoringVision.org
- Living Your Vision
- Why Supporting Vision Charities Is Important
- Charitable Donations – So Many Needs, How to Decide
- Man With A Mission Interview – Eyes of Faith
I highly support RAM Remote Area Medical. I have organized and participated in over 20 eye clinics with them.
Please support them financially, donating Optical goods or volunteering your time.
See http://www.ramusa.org