This fall, hundreds of Utah students will receive free eye exams and prescription glasses through Vision Van Go, Hope Alliance’s mobile vision clinic.
According to the organization, the free mobile eye exams are the first for many students, and it reported that teachers often see a difference in schoolwork and student confidence after students receive the glasses they need.
“I love thinking about the possibilities that come with every pair of glasses we provide to a child,” said Hope Alliance Executive Director Diane Bernhardt. “It can mean reading the words on the board clearly, seeing a teacher’s smile across the classroom, or catching a ball with confidence. It’s extraordinary that two little pieces of plastic in a frame can change the trajectory of a child’s life.”
Vision Van Go will host clinics at six schools in the Park City School District and four schools in the Grand County School District this fall.
School nurses screen and refer eligible students. Trained community volunteers help run the on-campus clinics, while licensed volunteer optometrists conduct the eye exams and determine prescriptions. Students who need vision correction will receive prescription glasses free of charge, with two pairs, one for home and one for school, provided when needed.
A student at Jeremy Ranch Elementary School was struggling in the classroom and unable to identify letters. After receiving prescription glasses from Hope Alliance, her letter-recognition score improved by nearly 80%. By the end of the school year, she could identify every letter and had become more confident and social with her classmates. That’s according to Ketzel Morales, the school’s outreach coordinator.
“A first grader told me after his exam that he did not know street signs had words on them until he put his glasses on,” Morales said. “That is the kind of thing that sticks with me: how much of the world these kids have been missing without even knowing it.”
In 2025, Hope Alliance’s school vision clinics served nearly 300 students; for almost one-third, it was their first eye exam.