PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Hundreds of Philadelphia kids were treated to free pairs of eye glasses on Saturday at Wills Eye Hospital in Center City.
Back in November, more than 1,200 kids were given free vision screenings as part of Give Kids Sight Day. Of those kids, a little over half needed glasses and they were there to pick up not one, but two pairs completely free of charge.
Joe Frattali with Wills Eye Hospital says the program is open to all kids who live in the city, and this is one of his favorite days of the year.
"Some of these children's eyes, you know, it's pretty hard for them to see, especially in school," Frattali said. "So when they put the glasses on for the first time, you see their faces lighting up, and it's just a great event. It makes us happy to volunteer and do stuff like this."
Some of the children were putting on glasses for the first time ever. Dr. Chris Rapuano works at Wills Eye Hospital, and he says watching that experience is his favorite part.
"It's just amazing," Rapuano said. "To come today where they're actually getting their glasses is really neat, because they put them on like, 'Oh my God. I can actually see now!'"
Donita Wilkes says her daughter broke her glasses, and was thrilled with the two pairs she picked up. She also was surprised at how easy the whole process was.
"Very streamlined, very organized, all the volunteers were here," she said. "They were very helpful. I was very surprised by it, honestly. Even though, again, there were a lot of people here, but it was very well managed."
The program is held yearly, and Wills Eye Hospital hopes to see more children turn out for the free screening every year. More information when next year's screening will be held can be found on the Wills Eye Hospital website.