Adding just R2,50 to your movie ticket to improve eye care health access in underserved communities

Vision influences almost every part of daily life, from reading, learning and working, to recognising faces, playing sport and enjoying leisure time. Despite this, changes in eyesight are often overlooked. National Eye Care Awareness Month, which runs from 20 September to 18 October 2026, raises awareness about the importance of good eye health and annual check-ups, with a specific focus around the prevention and treatment of avoidable blindness, which accounts for 75% of all blindness.

“With a special focus on healthy eyes and clear vision during this period – and with World Sight Day commemorated on 08 October – this is a cause which sits at the very heart of our organisation,” says Lynne Wylie, chief marketing officer of Ster-Kinekor Theatres. “Ster-Kinekor’s CSI programme, Vision Mission, encourages moviegoers to give back to deserving communities through a small donation when purchasing their movie tickets.”

Over the past few years, to deliver the #GiftOfSight to those in need, the multi-award-winning Vision Mission initiative has enabled healthcare professionals to screen and evaluate more than 364 784 underprivileged learners, with almost 30% of them obtaining additional optometric testing. Under this project, 16 577 people have received corrective spectacles, and 33 young people have undergone successful vision-changing corneal transplants.

Working in partnership with the Premier Health Foundation, Ster-Kinekor’s Vision Mission has brought life-changing visual assistance to underserved schools and communities across South Africa, highlighting a shared commitment to improving access to quality eye care for learners with visual impairments.

The Premier Health Foundation, led by Dr Dire Thomas, is a charitable organisation in South Africa known for community wellness initiatives. The foundation frequently collaborates on community health drives, such as partnering with Ster-Kinekor’s Vision Mission to provide eye examinations and prescription spectacles to learners in need.

A recent collaboration is with the Albertina Sisulu LSEN School Vision Project, located in Soweto, which has successfully provided vision screening to 311 learners. Of these, 89 learners screened positive for abnormal vision, and 77 learners require corrective spectacles, with several other learners requiring further medical investigation. The project represents a meaningful intervention in supporting learners with special educational needs by addressing an important barrier to learning, participation and independence.

The continued involvement of Premier Health Foundation in the school with project partners including Ster-Kinekor, will see the spectacle handover to learners in mid-October and subsequent monitoring processes to ensure that the benefits of the project extend beyond the initial screening programme. These collaborate initiatives demonstrate the value of providing accessible vision screening within specialised educational environments, particularly where learners may face additional barriers to accessing routine eye-care services.

Early detection and treatment of eye problems can be life-changing in so many cases. Says Wylie: “With every eye test and every pair of spectacles we can donate to a child in need, thanks to our Vision Mission programme, we are contributing to that child’s future. Early treatment enables a child’s vision to develop normally, and providing spectacles to children who need them can help them thrive – at school, on the sports field, and in social situations.”

Customers of Ster-Kinekor, many of whom choose to include a donation of R2.50 or more to their cinema ticket purchase, support Vision Mission. These valuable donations continue to contribute to eye examinations, spectacles and corneal transplants for children who require this life-changing operation.

With seventy-five percent of blindness cases being avoidable through prevention, early detection and treatment, it is important to undergo an annual eye test. However, for many South Africans, this is out of reach. For this reason, Ster-Kinekor’s Vision Mission campaign aims to provide critical eye care to as many young people as possible.

“It is with the help of our customers, and through their generous donations of R2,50 or more to the Vision Mission campaign, that we can continue with this important, life-changing project. With the focus on healthy eyes during Eye Care Awareness Month, we want to take this opportunity to thank them all.

“We hope all our customers consider making a contribution when they next book their movie tickets, so we can continue giving the gift of sight to young people in need in underserved communities across the country,” concludes Wylie.

#DoMoviesRight #SterKinekor #VisionMission #GiftOfSight #LoveYourEyes #MakeADifference