Jordan Kassalow founded VisionSpring to ensure every child has the glasses they need to learn, play, and see a brighter future. He reached out to reweave to help tell that story.
Jordan Kassalow, founder of VisionSpring · 3:13
It removes the fear and turns fear into hope and optimism. And that is very powerful for children.
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
the partnership
Hundreds of millions of children around the world have blurry vision and need glasses they do not have. Many of them do not know they need them. And for those who do get screened, there is often a barrier that is harder to address than access: fear.
Jordan Kassalow and the VisionSpring team reached out to reweave to help them tell a story that would turn that fear into something else entirely. The result was Taniya's story, a wordless film following a girl as she receives her first pair of glasses. No narration. Just the experience itself, and the unmistakable expression on Taniya's face when the world comes into focus.
VisionSpring now shows the film in schools before their screening programs arrive, so children see another child going through exactly what they are about to experience, and see that it ends in joy.
Neil Blumenthal, co-founder of Warby Parker, served as Director of VisionSpring before launching the eyewear company in 2010. Jordan Kassalow brought Neil in as an early advisor to Warby Parker, and VisionSpring became one of its first nonprofit partners. The Warby Parker Pupils Project, which provides eyeglasses and screenings to public school children in New York, Baltimore, and other cities, runs through that ongoing partnership today.
Taniya's story now travels through both networks. VisionSpring uses it before screening programs in schools around the world. Warby Parker uses it in Pupils Project classrooms so children see another child going through exactly what they are about to experience, and see that it ends in joy.
The value of clear vision, as Kassalow puts it, is human potential. It is the ability to learn. To play. To see what is possible.
video two
Jordan and the VisionSpring team learned what we have learned: when a story crosses borders, words become barriers. A wordless film carries the same emotion in every classroom, every language, every context. Here is Jordan on why that matters for VisionSpring's reach.
Jordan Kassalow on why wordless · 3:06
"We reached out to reweave to help us tell the story so kids could see other kids getting glasses in a way that was exciting, that was fresh, and that was powerful."
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
"By telling stories like this, it helps elicit the compassion and the empathy. And that will help the kids who need the glasses wear the glasses."
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
"The value of clear vision to me is being able to see a brighter future."
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
"We love the fact that the video is wordless because it becomes universal. Vision is universal and it is wordless. It does not need words."
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
"It is about the emotion. It is about the story. It is about the subjects in the story. The reweave videos bring those to life better than a pre-produced video."
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
"One of my favorite parts of the video was how authentic it felt. It felt like it was not staged because it was not, it was not prescripted because it was not."
Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring
the film at the center of this partnership
A wordless film. One girl. The moment the world comes into focus for the first time.
Watch Taniya's story →Also: Taniya and the vision camp · how wordless films work · empathy in education
Questions about VisionSpring, Jordan Kassalow, and reweave.