10 Things About Lynne and Steve Wheeler & the Vision of Children Foundation
“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
– Socrates”
Vision of Children’s (VOC) mission is to cure hereditary childhood blindness and vision disorders and to improve the quality of life of visually impaired children and their families. Vivian and Sam Hardage established The Vision of Children Foundation in 1991 after their son was born with a rare and debilitating vision disorder, Ocular Albinism. Lynne and Steve Wheeler have been supporters of VOC since the nonprofit’s founding and for the past 23 years, Lynne has served on the VOC Board.
#1 Lynne and Steve are third and fourth-generation Southern Californians born and raised in the Orange County area.
#2 Lynne started researching her genealogy during Covid and has since joined the Daughters of the American Revolution and Colonial Dames. She now has found 35,000 ancestors!
#3 The Wheeler’s youngest daughter, Jessica, and her family came to visit for a weekend in March of 2020, just before Covid started and stayed for a year. The grandsons were nine months and three years old at the time! Jessica finally had the opportunity to actually cook, and she wrote a book called “Quarantine Cuisine.”
#4 The Wheelers purchased timeshares in Princeville, Kauai 15 years ago and return annually with their family, which now includes four adults and four grandsons.
#5 Steve had been fortunate to lecture internationally for thirty years while practicing as an Oral Surgeon. Lynne has accompanied him on the majority of these experiences, which included thirty countries on six continents.
#6 The Wheelers admire Sam and Vivian Hardage for their determination to improve vision for so many. Through the Hardages, Lynne and Steve have been touched by the testimonials of blind children who one day soon may be able to see clearly due to the research funded by The Vision of Children Foundation.
#7 At the time of VOC’s founding, few scientists were researching genetic eye disorders, so the Hardages recruited new scientific researchers to find a cure for the condition affecting their son and countless other children born with similar vision disorders.
#8 Today, Vision of Children is one of the leading organizations engaging in this type of research.
#9 Due to its funding of targeted research for over 30 years, VOC is on the cusp of discoveries that will also lend itself to addressing vision loss from more common disorders affecting millions worldwide.
#10 Proceeds from this year’s “A Night for Sight” fundraising concert featuring The Beach Boys will benefit vision research projects currently underway at UC San Diego Health and other vision research projects on the horizon.
Vision of Children
“A Night For Sight”
Saturday, October 28, 2023
5:30 – 10:00 pm
The Sound (located on the Del Mar Fairgrounds)
http://www.visionofchildren.org/beach-boys-concert-2023
