MacKenzie Scott, a billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has recently donated $15 million to the social enterprise VisionSpring. Reportedly, her donation to the organisation is the largest single private donation, which will help solve the uncorrected vision problem affecting millions in developing countries like Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
According to the report, VisionSpring works to provide glasses to hundreds of thousands of low-income tea, coffee, cocoa and artisan workers and farmers in the aforementioned list of countries. “The gift from Ms Scott is an incredible acknowledgement of the power of a simple pair of eyeglasses to unlock earning, learning, safety and well-being for people vulnerable to poverty,” said VisionSpring’s chief executive Ella Gudwin, reported the Guardian.
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The announcement was also made on World Sight Day and VisionSpring’s $70 million Livelihoods in Focus campaign is estimated to help create more than $1 billion of new income among the farmers and artisans by helping them see more clearly. According to Gudwin, the campaign is a “multi-year journey” and aims to address the “massive vision care gap”.
The organisation also indicated how they found at least 65-85% of workers had never gotten their sight tested before and were first-time wearers of glasses which they received through the programme. The benefits of wearing glasses are almost immediate including productivity, income, mental health and well-being, said VisionSpring in a report by the Guardian.
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In 2019, Scott received in what is claimed to be one of the biggest divorce settlements in the world, $38 billion and has since then donated at least $12 billion to good causes, said the report. She has also made a declaration in a letter to the Giving Pledge, an endeavour that asks the world’s richest to commit to giving away at least half of their wealth to charity. The pledge was created by investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft’s principal founder, Bill Gates.
Soon after her divorce, Scott reportedly said, “In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
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