The power of the Gift of Sight is something Rob and Connie both learned early in life. It is part of a legacy of giving that now spans four generations.
Connie’s parents, Walter and Sara Derewianchuk, were active donors to Operation Eyesight, and they shared with their children the power of giving. Likewise, Rob’s parents, Bill and Nora Holland, were also Operation Eyesight donors. For both families, early memories of Dr. Ben Gullison, the physician who inspired Art Jenkyns to found Operation Eyesight, left lasting impressions. Connie remembers him standing before the congregation at her family’s church in Emerson, Manitoba, discussing Operation Eyesight’s work.
“I was in the front pew as a child, listening to Dr. Gullison speak. While he spoke, my younger sister dropped a ball that rolled directly down to him,” Connie recalls. “He simply picked it up and threw it back to my older sister, who was so embarrassed to have to catch the ball from Dr. Gullison. He was not phased by anything.”
Rob, who began donating at just 17, recalled Dr. Gullison showing slides of cataract surgeries performed on patients. These slides soon became real for him, when he encountered a woman with cataracts while he was travelling in Morocco.
“I realized that for many, like the woman I encountered, there was no special support for an older woman experiencing cataracts,” he says. “Although I was in Canada where we have all kinds of support for people experiencing eyesight issues or blindness, I recognized there is something I can do for others through Operation Eyesight.”
After they were married, Connie and Rob passed on the importance of the Gift of Sight to their children. Over their kitchen table, they would discuss philanthropy and what a donation could achieve. They say their goal was to instill in their children the idea and feeling of gratitude.
In a book Rob recently wrote for his children and grandchildren, he notes that donating to Operation Eyesight is his greatest pride. “With our donations to Operation Eyesight, you know that somebody who was blind last month – this month they can see,” Rob says. “So, it is a concrete way of giving.”
Rob’s book has inspired his grandchildren to begin their own fundraising efforts for Operation Eyesight.
“By giving to Operation Eyesight, you know that your donation will help people. It is good to think about who you are giving to, where, and the practicality of your donation,” Connie says.
Rob agrees.
“Whatever your motivation, I think giving should be part of everyone’s life. My giving is an expression of gratitude. Probably until I die, I will give something to Operation Eyesight.”
Thank you, Rob, Connie and family, for your generous support!
