Liberty Graduate Student Will Assist In Global Vision 2020 Efforts To Distribute Eyewear

Liberty graduate student Lance Putnam will oversee the U-See vision project initiated by Global Vision 2020 this summer in Malawi, distributing eyeglasses to those without access to optometric care while creating jobs for fulfilling his practicum. 

Putnam and his wife Jenifer will head to Malawi this summer with 5,500 eyeglasses to distribute to refugees, connecting with other denominations and the Samaritan’s Purse Hospital. 

Greg Weins is a Mennonite pastor and the Faith-Based Coordinator for Global Vision 2020, which received the U.S. Patent Humanity award in 2020 for its U-See vision project. 

The U-See Eye Tester is peer-reviewed and published by Johns Hopkins University and the New England College of Optometry. The device offers an accessible and easy way for people without access to traditional optometrist’s offices to receive a prescription and acquire glasses.

He emphasized the power of the program and its ability to minister to people by meeting logistical needs, saying that he has witnessed dozens of legally blind people get the right prescription through the U-see Vision System, and as a result see well enough to pass a Western Driver’s Eye Exam. 

“There are over 2 billion people in the world without access to eyeglasses,” Weins said. “This means that this is the number one disability that is not being addressed in the world, and it can be solved with a $3 pair of eyeglasses while giving church workers a job that they can make a living wage doing, all the while raising the quality of life for those who get the eyeglasses.”

Through the program up to this point, Weins has been able to participate in the distribution of over 40,000 pairs of eyeglasses to indigenous church workers, who are then able to make a small profit selling the glasses – meeting the needs of their community and providing for their
families. 

“The local churches don’t need a handout, but a hand-up,” Weins said. “And when they are given the right tools they can do so incredibly much to build God’s Kingdom.”

Weins said that the Holy Spirit connected himself and Putnam through their mutual work and interests, much like how he met Major Kevin White, who is in charge of the project, about 12 years ago. 

“Where the Holy Spirit leads, you go,” Weins said.

According to Weins, Putnam has a long history of experience in overseeing international development from his over 25 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, and his wife has a master’s in counseling with a focus on physical and sexual trauma. 

Weins expressed interest in furthering the involvement of Global Vision 2020 and partnering with Liberty University to a greater extent moving forward. 

“I consider myself an evangelical Mennonite, and I would love to talk to Liberty about how we can work together to get eyeglasses on the faces of the church all over the world while employing pastors and church workers,” Weins said.

Kayleigh Hamer is a Copy Editor. View her LinkedIn profile here.