Seva's Supporters

There's a famous saying at Seva that goes, "It's all done with people." We are truly blessed to have an amazing community of supporters, ranging from individual donors and advocates for Seva's mission, foundations and institutions who help make our work possible, and talented photographers who donate their images so that we can show you what we do.

This page is a chance for you to get to know a bit more about some of the groups and individuals who help a small organization do great things.

 

Seva's Partner Foundations and Institutions

Aravind
Aravind Eye Care System, India

BCEIO
British Columbia Centre for Epidemiologic & International Ophthalmology

CIDA
Canadian International Development Agency
CIDA has been the dominant supporter of Seva Canada's work since we were founded in 1982. Through CIDA funding there have been huge successes in global eye care,.perhaps most clearly through the support of Aravind Eye Care System in India and the creation of Aurolab in India to manufacture high-quality, low-cost intraocular lenses so that the world's poor can now receive the same standard of cataract care as those in the developed world and are no longer forced to wear thick, awkward glasses.

The Johnson Eye Foundation
In 2008, the Johnson Eye Foundation gave a $12,000 grant which funded a pediatric surgical outreach camp in Mwanza, Tanzania. This outreach camp provided screening, treatment and cataract surgeries for children. Over 170 patients were screened and 80 (34%) of them needed surgical intervention, mainly for childhood cataract but also for retinoblastoma and cornea scarring. In 2009, the Johnson Eye Foundation provided a second $12,000 grant which will fund the expansion of a pediatric eye care program in the Lake Regions and a second pediatric eye camp in Mwanza in June, 2010.

KCCO
Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology, based in Moshi, Tanzania and which, with Seva's help, is providing eye care throughout eastern Africa.

The Lewis & Ruth Sherman Foundation

Thanks to the generosity, dedication and long-term vision of The Lewis & Ruth Sherman Foundation, Seva has developed The Sherman Institute of Primary Eye Care Management in Tansen, Nepal. The Institute is responsible for the following activities and therefore the sight of thousands of people will be positively affected:

1. Training of eye care managers at the district level
2. Workshops for district eye clinics
3. Supervision of Gulmi, Argakhanchi and Taplejung clinics
4. Training of Health Post staff and female village health care volunteers
5. School screening camps
6. Diagnostic and screening camps
7. Vitamin A deficiency surveillance programs
8. Other eye-related programs

The Institute serves as a model for future developments in Nepal’s eye care. Our sincerest thanks to Mr. Sherman who passed away at this home in Ontario in January 2004.

Seva Foundation
Seva Foundation, our sister organization based in Berkeley, California and which was founded in 1979.

VISION 2020
VISION 2020 The Right to Sight

Webkinz Foundation
The Webkinz Foundation was created in late 2007 as a means for Ganz, the manufacturer of children's toys, to develop programs and donate funds to programs that benefit children. Seva Canada is honoured to have been chosen by the Webkiz Foundation as one of the charities represented in Webkinz Caring Valley.

Wild Rose Foundation

 

Individuals and Groups

Over the course of the next few months we'll be adding more stories of individuals and groups who help make Seva's sight programs possible and who help spread the word about our work. Here, for now, are some links and stories that show the different ways in which people help Seva end the suffering of preventable and treatable blindness.

Dr. Larry Louie and Joanna Wong
Dr. Larry Louie and his wife, Joanna Wong, have been incredibly supportive of Seva's work. Larry is both an Edmonton optometrist and an international award-winning photographer. He is using his compelling, world-class photographs to raise awareness of Seva's work as well as to raise funds for our sight programs.

Larry Louie developed an insatiable curiosity about other places and cultures when he was quite young. His fascination with photography and travel started with his first copy of National Geographic. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Edmonton, Larry was educated as a doctor of optometry and now divides his time between his practice and his art.

Larry's work to document cultures around the world has resulted in a compelling archive of images.  His work has received international recognition, with honours including an IPA - Lucie Award, a National Geographic photo essay award, and the Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) People’s Choice Award.

In November 2009, Larry won the Humanitarian Documentary Grant from the World Wide Photography Gala Awards and will travel to Spain in 2010 to receive his award. Congratulations Larry! You can read more at http://www.thegalaawards.com/jury.html Larry Louie’s work can be viewed at his website, www.larrylouie.com.

Jon Kaplan
Jon's stunning portraits grace almost every page of this website as well as our annual Gift of Sight catalogue. Seva supporters can enjoy his captivating photographs in our 2010 calendar and our greeting cards.

Jon Kaplan is an award-winning photographer who has been taking pictures since the day his father handed him a Polaroid camera when he was just six years old. His passion for the art of photography has taken him from the edge of the Sahara Desert to the highlands of Guatemala, and taught him the simple beauty and true power of family and community in even the humblest of settings. His work has been published in both national and international magazines including The New York Times, The New Yorker and Camera Arts. Jon currently divides his time between his first love, the developing world, and his home in the Bay Area.

Seva is extremely grateful to Jon for his generous donation of his photographs and for helping us raise funds to restore sight and prevent blindness. View Jon's photographs at http://jonkaplan.com/

PhotoPhilanthropy
PhotoPhilanthropy is an organization created to promote, support and connect photographers to charitable organizations. They are featuring the work of Dr. Larry Louie, whose gritty black-and-white photographs of the Seva's work in Tanzania show the deep suffering caused by blindness and low vision.

Mary Marketos in Laval
Mary, a yoga teacher in Laval, Quebec has created her own personal giving page and has deemed Sundays as "Yoga for Seva" days. Yoga students who make a donation to Seva Canada's sight programs will get a free yoga class. Mary is also reaching out to the yoga community elsewhere in Canada and the US. Our deepest thanks to her for her compassion in action.

 

Our photographers

Since the beginning, Seva has relied on volunteer photographers to document the work we do and share their talent. Seva is extremely grateful to the following photographers for their contributions:

Parto Banerjee
Ken Bassett
Geoff Oliver Bugbee
Johannes Burge
Dolma Chugi
Paul Courtright
Rachel Cushing
Susan Erdmann
Karl Grobl
Gary Hahn
Barbara Hannah
David Hardouin
Diane Hardouin
Brian Harris
Linda Harth
Jon Kaplan
Tony Kozlowski
Penny Lyons
Deborah Moses
Peter Nash
John Pratt-Johnson
Mae Pratt-Johnson
Amy Sherts
Marty Spencer
Nicole Spencer
Kunga Tashi
Pearl Wierenga

No image may be used without permission.

We thank Sandy Gerber and Karley Cunningham of 3 Degrees West, and everyone at Idealever for their help and support in creating Seva’s new website.