An organization that provides reading classes to underprivileged children stops by the James R. Ganley School in Juarez, Mexico.

On March 30, 2011, 17 children with visual impairments from the James R. Ganley School in the city of Juarez, Mexico were provided eyeglasses donated through the “Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor” program. The “Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor” program seeks to fight educational gaps caused by the poor performance of students that suffer from myopia, astigmatism and farsightedness.

“We are very grateful for this donation. All students who attend classes at the Ciudad Juarez James R. Ganley School come from very poor families, and this school tries to provide an oasis of love and care where they can learn in an environment free from violence, vice and bad habits , besides trying to pass on knowledge. Now, thanks to “Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor” program, 17 of our children have a clear vision that will help them to continue to study and grow up to be better people,” said James Ganley, President of the Ganley Foundation .

The stars of the event were the 85 children who attend the James R. Ganley School of Ciudad Juárez, who gathered under the relentless Ciudad Juárez sun and 100° temperatures at 12 noon, with a great deal of expectation as they waited for the event to start… neither the sun or the dry heat, or blowing dust was able to overshadow the smiles and looks of expectation of each of these children ranging from preschool through 6th grade ... Erik Baeza, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications for Fox Sports, spoke during the first part of the event and publicly thanked the Ganley Foundation, the Ministry of Public Education, the Government of the State of Chihuahua and the “Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor” program for helping the Mexican children and specifically those attending this school in Ciudad Juárez. Baeza said: “Today is a very special day for this school, because 17 of you will receive the gift of good eyesight... to improve your learning and become the better children and better Mexicans our families desperately need” and closed by saying “Fox Sports is privileged to be able to contribute to social responsibility efforts as it promotes sports, education and improvement in every corner that receives our sports signal.” Then Martha Lucía Ochoa, the Coordinator of the Ciudad Juárez “Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor” called out the name of each child who needed eyeglasses, which Yolanda Zaldívar, Manuel de Jesús Rivera Lugo and Jesús Eduardo Ochoa, the program’s optometrists put on their faces.

These free eyeglasses were handed out thanks to the coordinated efforts made by the Government of the State of Chihuahua, the Ministry of Public Education and Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor. Following this Urman and Fox Sports delivered backpacks, notebooks and sports articles to all of the students at the school to give them more tools to facilitate their learning and sports training. The Sixth Grade James R. Ganley Elementary School students closed the event with a special dance act, after which the students’ mothers and teachers served lunch to everyone attending the event.

Located in the Colonia Felipe Ángeles neighborhood, which is one of the most marginalized parts of the city that suffer the greatest shortages in terms of utilities and services in Ciudad Juarez, the James R. Ganley School offers scholarships and works with an educational system focused on small-size classrooms, with a maximum of 15 students per group, to be able to work individually with each child to help improve their academic training and learn about their personal and family needs in order to detect problems at an early stage in their lives that could lead to depression or poor academic performance.

A short video of this special event may be found by visiting the Ganley Foundation's YouTube channel or by going to Media > Video Gallery in the menu above.