Local Lab, Global Initiative Quest:
Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab partners with Sight is a Right on a mission to Peru
Largo, FL., March 15, 2018 –Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab, Inc. sent two representatives of their management team to Zorritos, Peru as part of their ongoing globally based charity work. On the 4th of March, President, Michael Walach and his son, Luxexcel 3D production manager, Louis Walach made an almost 3,000-mile journey to join 25 other volunteers on the optical mission in the rural northern Peruvian community. The group diversely made up of 7 optometrists, 8 opticians, 2 RNs, and 10 support staff offered their respective optical expertise providing free vision exams, blood pressure and glucose screenings for approximately 2000 local residents. The team met in Lima and was flown to Tumbes (and back to Lima) on a Peruvian Navy plane, generously donated by the country of Peru. The results of the mission were amazing, distributing 2000 pairs of sunglasses, 1700 pairs of reading glasses, and writing prescriptions for just under 600 (of which Quest will make 404). The non-profit’s president and founder Steven Stern was ecstatic, sharing that for him “the project was a huge success. Our incredible, dedicated, hard-working team was able to serve 1992 Peruvians during just 4 days of clinic. This area of Peru has never had a team of eye care professionals serve in their community in anyone’s memory – thus this was an important event for Zorritos and the need for our services is great. The volunteers who do this are very special. They take time off, and the volunteers become a family.”
Quest has supported the northwestern based 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization Sight is a Right for the last 4 years, attending and donating to similar initiatives in the underserved countries of Jamaica, Costa Rica and Honduras. Quest’s President, Michael Walach has taken several annual trips with Steven over the years expressed how “humbled and enriched” he felt by the unique experience. Over the years Quest has donated thousands of lenses for the organization and had the great fortune to affect the lives of so many underserved peoples. Since this was the first of what is hoped to be many trips to the north Peruvian cost Mr. Walach saw it as “an adventure because we weren’t quite sure what to expect.” He went on to share his passion for charity work fervently sharing that he felt “very fortunate that life gave me plenty. I’m just passing that along and it feels good. No one ever became poor by giving.”
In late August of this year Louis Walach will be making another trip back to Zorritos to deliver the large quantity of prescriptions be to produced in the Quest lab. He will be making the long journey as part of a twofold task; first, he will successfully deliver the lenses to Mr. Stern and second, assist in fitting and adjusting the frames to recipients ensuring the maximum benefit.