Fresh Air Fund Mission: Clinic Day One- Camp Mariah

At 7:45am, the Misison members entered Camp Mariah's dining hall and were greeted by an enthusiastic young boy. "You guys have the van, right," he said, clapping and jumping up and down; "The one that I can get glasses from???" The boy hurried alongside us, unable to contain his excitement, while we humbley smiled and felt a warm feeling in our hearts. He started to tell us about how he had broke his glasses almost a year ago and could not replace them; the school year had been very difficult for him and he had been anxiously waiting for the day GOS would come to camp. His excitement was infectious and soon the other kids had surrounded us, bombarding us with questions and stories about how badly they needed eyewear.

We happily began setting up and watched as the kids waited patiently for us to be ready for them. A line formed outside the infirmary, where we were administering the visual acuity, tonometry and auto-refraction tests, and soon the process began. After these tests, the kids came to the vision van where they were given an eye exam and picked their frames. At this point in the process, the kids were so excited that all you could hear was blissful chatter coming through the door of the van.

By the mid-afternoon, every child had been seen. The mission members diligently finished the daunting task of cutting all the lenses and putting together the frames; by dinner time, the job was complete and we carried the eyewear into the dining room. The kids greeted us with cheers and clapping as we started calling them up to claim their new glasses. One by one they ran up front, put their frames on, recieved adjustments, and then happily ran back to their tables to show off their new gifts. Several of them put the glasses on and had to take a few minutes to look around the room and see what they had been missing.

When we were finished giving the kids the gift of sight, we went back to the van to clean up. On our way, the young boy ran by us wearing his frames; we watched as he skipped to the basketball court, picked up a ball, and started shooting hoops. The realization that he now was able to fully experience the splendor of a basketball game swept over us, and we grinned at each other, understanding the affect that one pair of glasses will have on the boy's life.