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stablished in 1997 from the sale proceeds of 
Sinai Hospital to the Detroit Medical Center, 
the Jewish Fund is a nonprofit organization 
that provides grants and funding to the greater Metro 
Detroit community. Its creation included a special 
restricted fund designated specifically for low vision 
services.
When the Jewish Fund learned about Vision to 
Learn, an organization that provides vision screenings, 
eye exams and glasses to school-aged children, it felt 
like a perfect fit for the special restricted fund.
“We’re always looking for opportunities 
to support children and adults who have 
low vision in Detroit,
” explains the Jewish 
Fund Executive Director Margo Pernick. 
It just so happened that the Children’s 
Foundation, which has a working rela-
tionship with the Jewish Fund, was fund-
ing a Vision to Learn program at Detroit 
Cristo Rey High School, a coed Catholic school in 
Central Southwest Detroit, and helped make an intro-
duction.
For the Jewish Fund staff and board members, 
it was a no-brainer. “We had a fabulous site visit,
” 
Pernick says of visiting Detroit Cristo Rey High 
School. “Our board members were really impressed 
with how the school operates with its partnerships 
with local businesses.
” (Students have opportunities to 
do onsite internships one day per week to learn real-
life job skills.)
During the visit, the Jewish Fund also learned that 
Detroit Cristo Rey High School was in need of greater 
vision screening and eyeglass services than it already 
had. Inspired to help, the Jewish Fund chose to budget 
$15,000 per year for a three-year commitment for 
Detroit Cristo Rey High School to partner with Vision 
to Learn to execute expanded vision testing.

A ‘FIXABLE’ PROBLEM 
Now in its second year, the funding is already making 
an impact. Last year, Detroit Cristo Rey High School 
provided 270 children with vision screenings and 147 
with eyeglasses.
Research shows that 80% of what the brain receives 
comes through vision, making vision crucial for 
educational success. In fact, vision issues can cause 
learning difficulties, poor reading fluency, reading 

comprehension difficulties and reduced attention or 
concentration.
“It’s such a fixable problem,
” Pernick says. “We know 
many kids do poorly in school because they can’t see 
the board and they can’t see what’s presented to them. 
With appropriate screening and glasses, it just changes 
their trajectory completely.
”
According to Dr. Payton Jackson III, 
assistant principal at Detroit Cristo Rey 
High School, “When a student is able to 
see what’s on the board, they are more 
involved in the classroom, and they are 
more confident to respond and partici-
pate. 
“Students’ vision greatly impacts their learning 
experience because if they can’t see, then they can’t 
take notes and end up missing things. Good vision is 
vital to have the ability to retain information,
” he adds.
Between Detroit Cristo Rey, the Jewish Fund and 
Vision to Learn, Pernick says every single student can 
now be screened and provided with eyeglasses.
“They have all of the foundational elements to make 
it work now,
” Pernick says.
Pernick confirms Detroit Cristo Rey High School 
was slated to receive a one-year grant, but that the 
Jewish Fund was able to find sufficient funding for 
three years total — meaning even more 
high schoolers will receive those critical 
vision screenings.
“The grant has provided the school the 
seed money to launch this program and 
build a fund to ensure a long-term plan 
to provide vision testing to our [entire] 
student population,
” says Chris Lynch, president at 
Detroit Cristo Rey High School.

NO ONE LEFT BEHIND 
While Detroit Cristo Rey High School is a Catholic 
school, Pernik says the Jewish Fund aims to support 
communities outside of Jewish Detroit. Not only that, 
but it’s a key building block of the organization’s vision 
and goals.
Pernick explains that the Jewish Fund has three 
priority areas. The first and largest are organizations 
that need support addressing the health and welfare of 
the Jewish community. The second is accessing health 
in the broader Metro Detroit community. The third 

is known as “Shared Life in Detroit,
” which enriches 
Jewish life for Jewish residents in the city of Detroit.
Supporting Detroit Cristo Rey High School’s vision 
needs naturally fell into the second priority area, or 
accessing health in the broader Metro Detroit commu-
nity, as the original Sinai Hospital always strived for.
It’s a continuation of the legacy on which Sinai 
Hospital was first built. Established in 1953 in Detroit, 
Sinai Hospital offered services to the Jewish commu-
nity, which often faced discrimination in mainstream 
hospitals of that time. Now, the Jewish Fund follows a 
similar approach by ensuring no one is left out from 
vital healthcare and funding.
“I think it’s important, especially these days, that the 
broader community know that the Jewish community 
is a helpful population,
” Pernick says. “We are here to 
make the whole community strong, not just our own 
community.
” 

Margo 
Pernick

OUR COMMUNITY

Chris Lynch

Dr. Payton 
Jackson III

The Jewish Fund pledges a three-year commitment 
to vision needs at Detroit Cristo Rey High School.

Supporting Vision for All

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Detroit Cristo Rey High 
School students receive 
vision screenings thanks 
to the Jewish Fund.

