Eyewear Company, De Rigo REM, Donates 10,000 Frames to National Vision’s Philanthropic Efforts
For the last 18 years, National Vision has been a customer of De Rigo REM, the Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Italian eyewear manufacturer De Rigo Vision, the world’s fourth largest eyewear company. Brands such as Converse and Lucky Brand are favorites among our America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses and Eyeglass World customers.
Recently, the socially responsible company donated 10,000 frames to 20/20 Quest – a National Vision sponsored charitable foundation, which was chartered for the purpose of providing screenings, eye exams, eyeglasses and refractive error solutions to the optically underserved in both the United States and the developing world.
We had the opportunity to sit down with the President of De Rigo REM, Alessandro Baronti, and chatted about this significant donation and his thoughts on how we can partner to help solve the optical public health crisis we are facing.
President of De Rigo REM – Alessandro Baronti.
You recently donated 10,000 frames to our philanthropic efforts. Can you tell us how you came to be aware of the opportunity to donate.
“We continuously strive to partner with our customers on matters that are important to them. Hearing Reade Fahs and Bob Stein talk first hand about National Vision’s fervent commitment to philanthropy which so closely aligned with our own, I could feel the passion and enthusiasm and knew immediately that we had to be a part of it. As a socially responsible company, we felt this was a great opportunity for us to show our support with the donation of 10,000 frames.”
Is ‘giving back’ part of your company culture?
“Social responsibility is a part of our company’s mission and is at the heart of everything we do at De Rigo REM. Whether it is giving back externally or coming together to help one of our fellow employees, we always try to lead by example.”
Is your company involved in other philanthropic programs?
“We are involved in a number of different local and national charities on an ongoing basis. Some of these include Optometry Giving Sight, New Eyes for the Needy, AC Cares, Operation Christmas Child, Reading by 9, among others.
Most recently, we partnered with Optometry Giving Sight to donate readers and sunglasses for their ‘Lake Zone Roshanali Nasser Outreach Project’ in Tanzania, Africa which suffers from one of the poorest economies in the world. As a result of the program, they were able to bring free eye care to more than 20,000 people in isolated villages that normally cannot access these types of services. It was so touching to hear about all the people we were able to help in the region with the donation of these frames.
We also reimburse our employees up to 20 hours of personal time off (PTO) each year for dedicating their time to volunteering. In fact, our employees have attended many local and overseas missions.”
What impact do you think National Vision – through its partnerships and engagements with organizations like yours – has on the optical public health crisis we are facing?
“With over 1.2 billion people across the globe that are blind or suffering from vision-impairment due to an uncorrected refractive error, partnerships between companies like ours can allow for us to provide free screenings, eye exams and eyewear frames to remote communities worldwide that do not have regular access to eye care. By bringing together major players in the optical industry, we can continue to strive to create new solutions as well as create more awareness for this global crisis.”
Any final comments?
“Having been in the optical industry for over 30 years now, the acute demand for eye care strikes a personal chord. The need to not only train and educate ECP’s but to donate and equip vision centers in underserved areas is at an all-time high. I am thrilled to not only partner with our good friends at National Vision on such an important program that is aligned with De Rigo REM’s social responsibility as well as my own, but to work together to give the gift of sight and build a better tomorrow for those in need.”
Thank you De Rigo REM for your generous donation!
Jessica Altamirano
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