(CBN) – Back in 2003 after he was told by many homeless people that they could not see well enough to get a job, Holland Kendall, a retired electrical engineer, decided to do something about it. Inspired by the Scriptures where Jesus healed eyes and gave sight to the blind, Holland began Kendall Optometry Ministry, based in Kentucky, with the goal of lifting people out of homelessness and poverty by improving their vision.
The ministry hosts free eye clinics for the poor and homeless around the world where it distributes used and new glasses to those who need them. The glasses have been carefully measured for their corrective properties and cataloged. Using sophisticated testing equipment to determine a person’s prescription for each eye, the ministry matches that person as closely as possible to the eyeglasses available.
But a Kentucky regulatory agency says that’s not good enough, and that the ministry’s good work of bringing sight to the visually challenged will have to comply with its regulations, or stop its work. If it does not comply, the ministry faces fines and/or even jail time. According to the Rutherford Institute, the Kentucky Boards of Optometric Examiners and Ophthalmic Dispensers have warned the ministry that its charity work violates state licensing laws because the glasses are not precisely prescribed for those who receive them. READ MORE
