Brief History of the Michigan Foundation for Vision Awareness (MFVA)

MFVA started many years ago as an organization of optometric spouses of The Michigan Optometric Association (MOA) Membership, who performed fund raising for optometric scholarships that first began in 1958. Those same spouses also identified that there was a need for educating the public to promote optometry and primary eye care awareness through grassroots efforts. That effort included creating educational materials, handouts, and going into the local schools in their community to promote the need for eye exams in young students. This group was named the Women’s Auxiliary!

These same spouses attended the American Optometric Association (AOA) Annual Meetings. This developed into a network of women who were like minded across the country. During these early years, the American Foundation for Vision Awareness (AFVA) came to be and in Michigan the MOA Spouses came together as the American Foundation for Vision Awareness – Michigan Affiliate. Dues were collected through the MOA Membership of spouses and funds both stayed in Michigan and apportionments went to AFVA National.

But in the 1980’s and 1990’s, things began to change. Demographics of families with two working spouses became much more common and time became a premium. AFVA National started to decline in its membership and participation. However, AFVA-Michigan stayed strong. In 1996, Vision Service Plan (VSP) Midwest funded an Endowment for Michigan through its relationship with the MOA. As the AFVA- Michigan Affiliate was a 501c 3 non-profit, we were the natural place to put this money with the oversight of the MOA through an advisory of MOA/Michigan OD’s. When AFVA National ceased its activities a few years after 1996, AFVA Michigan chose to keep administering the Endowment to the benefit of Michigan. It was at this time we decided to change our name to the Michigan Foundation for Vision Awareness.

MFVA is no longer an optometric scholarship and educational service provided by spouses, but a nonprofit organization with a longstanding relationship with the MOA that focuses primarily on the management of an endowment fund. MFVA uses of a part of the investment income to fund optometric scholarships, grants for helping the underserved population, and grants for optometric research. Examples of what we do are: support of Opening Eyes/Special Olympics, student scholarships for those planning on working in Michigan, support for the initial startup of the Michigan College of Optometry’s Pediatric Residency, equipment and supplies for Cherry Street Health Services in Grand Rapids, funds to support the school’s “See to Succeed” program, research grants, annual support for MCO’s SVOSH program, funding printed materials for the Michigan Low Vision Rehabilitation Coalition to supply to the professional eyecare community. And there are many, many more such projects that we have support in a big way since receiving the Endowment in 1996.

As you can see, we are very involved in the support of Optometry in Michigan!

MFVA is now a totally donation-based Endowment no longer supported through annual dues through the MOA Membership. The board is also very different in that we are now made up of spouses of OD’s, OD’s, Paraoptometrics and persons interested in the support of the optometric profession and services.

See our Mission Statement; it says it all!