The Women’s Fund Educational Events Committee and SEE International, Inc. pulled out all the stops for their Grants in Action showcase last month.
Board Chair Carolyn Jabs and Don Bell, President and CEO of SEE International, Inc., welcomed the crowd of more than 90 people and extolled the work of both organizations.
Participants visited three stations of learning and activity set up in the parking area and in SEE’s vast warehouse. The event included a tour of the Central Coast Free Vision Clinic (Mobile Unit) and a hands-on demonstration of their specialized equipment.
Attendees created goodie bags with handwritten “well-wishing” notes for SEE’s “Children’s Sight Month” event in August. In the SEE warehouse, participants learned about the complexities of transporting equipment to perform medical procedures around the world.
Two parts to SEE
The first part is SEE International, Inc., which Dr. Harry Brown began in 1974 to provide sight-saving surgeries worldwide.
Under SEE International is the SEE Vision Care (SVC) program, launched in 1989 in response to the need for free, local eye care and vision services for underserved individuals and families in Santa Barbara County, with offices in Goleta and Lompoc. Forty-nine percent of SVC patients are children, and 88% come from extremely low-income households.
In our 2024-25 grant cycle, we awarded a grant of $110,000 to help expand the clinic and mobile-unit services.
The impact of this grant is personified by Dr. Elise Swanson, who was hired as a part-time staff member in the Goleta clinic. The clinic increased its office days from three to five days a week and reduced the wait time for appointments from three to six months to a week. On average, Dr. Swanson sees 60-72 patients each week.
During the grant period (May 2025-May 2026), SVC served a total of 8,280 patients in South Santa Barbara County – surpassing its projected goal of 7,126 patients.
CEO Don Bell said in a thank you note: "Partnerships like yours change the lives of individuals and families. The ‘compound interest’ that results from your support is far-reaching, extending beyond the patient interaction and well into the future!”
These Grants in Action events provide an invaluable opportunity for our members to better understand what our grantee organizations are doing and the tangible impact of our grantmaking in the community.
To learn more, visit: SEE Vision Care at Casa de la Raza and “De Campo a Campo” Brings Vision Services to Farmworkers, and read “Rocio’s” story here.