On Tuesday February 2, the students of Mme Grunfeld and Mme Lee at Tomekichi Homma Elementary School in Richmond, BC presented Seva Canada with a giant cheque for $2,146.70.

Two of the students at Tomekichi Homma School presenting a cheque to Susan Erdmann

This very generous amount was raised by the students and will be used to restore sight by funding cataract surgeries in remote areas of the developing world. There are 45 million blind people in the world and most of this blindness is caused by cataract, the clouding of the eye's natural lens, and can be treated with a short operation costing $50 or less. The cheque was presented to Seva board member, Susan Erdmann, and Seva office manager, Annie Chen, at a special ceremony at the school.

Students of Mme Grunfeld and Mme Lee with cheque for Seva Canada

Susan, who has traveled at her own expense and seen Seva's work first hand. Susan told the children about the three eye camps in Tibet that she witnessed, at which hundreds of blind people were led in by their family members or caregivers and who, after a short operation lasting 15 minutes or less, they had their sight restored. Seva Canada is very grateful to the students of Mme Grunfeld and Mme Lee for their hard work and compassion in helping to restore sight to the world's blind. The money raised will be used to help fund a Seva eye camp in Tibet, an area with the highest rate of blindness in the world.