NEPA Gives Starts 7 p.m. Thursday; Sights for Hope Contributions Support Monroe County

By Sights for Hope Team |
A digital graphic on a computer screen promoting "NEPA Gives" on June 5-6, 2025, featuring a stylized map of Pennsylvania with heart icons and green-blue tones.

The NEPA Gives 2025 event, which starts Thursday at 7 p.m., offers donors a special opportunity to support Sights for Hope’s services in Monroe County.

Led by the Scranton Area Community Foundation, NEPA Gives encourages people in Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne counties to contribute to their favorite organizations. NEPA Gives sponsors provide matching funds for organizations that raise at least $1,000.

All contributions made to Sights for Hope through the NEPA Gives platform from 7 p.m. Thursday to 7 p.m. Friday will support its services in Monroe County. In 2024, Sights for Hope donors helped earn a $1,000 grant from the Scranton Area Community Foundation.

Sights for Hope has served Monroe County residents since 2002. As of February 28, 30% of Sights for Hope’s 2024-2025 client and patient service hours have benefitted Monroe residents and 31% of the pre-kindergarten children who have received its vision screenings are from the county.

A 2022 study by The Ohio State University and the national VisionServe Alliance stated that 7.3% of Monroe County residents ages 65 and up lived with a visual impairment or blindness. This rate was 22% above Pennsylvania’s state average of 6.0%, and Monroe County had the sixth highest rate among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

Sights for Hope empowers people to overcome the challenges of vision loss and promotes healthy eyesight throughout Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley and Monroe County. Sights for Hope educates people with limited or no vision about adaptive skills, improves their access to essential services, boosts their confidence and emotional well-being, and helps them obtain assistive devices. Sights for Hope also connects pre-kindergarten children to eye care and teaches people how to keep their eyes strong and safe. Founded in 1928, Sights for Hope is a member of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (PAB) and the VisionServe Alliance.

Image: A digital graphic on a computer screen promoting “NEPA Gives” on June 5-6, 2025, featuring a stylized map of Pennsylvania with heart icons and green-blue tones.