Feature Story: Battling Blindness

There are 15 million blind people in India, two million of whom are children. In fact, one out of every three blind people in the world lives in India. But the silver lining behind this tragic situation is that up to 80 percent of blindness is curable or preventable.

When Dr. Manu Vora, Chairman and President of Business Excellence, Inc., in Naperville, Ill., learned of these distressing statistics in 1989, he was moved to action.

Founders of the Blind Foundation for India (standing left to right): Bimal Kothari, Ashish Vora, Navin Sanghavi, Nilesh Kothari, (bottom left) Anand Vora, (seated center) Manu Vora.

Vora teamed with four Lucent co-workers - Raj Baxi, Bimal Kothari, Nilesh Kothari and Navin Sanghavi - to form a nonprofit organization called the Blind Foundation for India. The Foundation's mission is to prevent blindness in India, and cure it when possible. It also seeks to provide education, training, and rehabilitation for Indians who are permanently blind.

Since 1991, the foundation has raised over $3.5 Million for blind people in India. The group's financial goal is to reach "five million dollars by the year 2010." It has no paid staff and over 92 percent of the money collected directly helps the blind. The remainder covers printing, supplies and mailing costs.

For more information contact:
Blind Foundation for India
P.O. Box 3971
Naperville, Il 60567-3971
Tel: (630) 637-9301
(evenings and weekends)