After the initiative of Judo Academy in collaboration with Fispiccontinues the commitment of OneSight EssilorLuxottica Italia ETS Foundation towards sustainability and accessibility to sport as a tool for social inclusion and individual well-being for people with disabilities, this time together with Ministry from the Defence.
The Foundation has, in fact, started a collaboration process with the Paralympic Defense Sports Group (GSPD), created precisely to promote the psycho-physical recovery of Italian soldiers who, operating in their homeland or outside national borders, have contracted injuries or disabling and permanent illnesses in the performance of one’s duty.
Through sport, therefore, these people have the opportunity to continue to lead an active lifestyle, a new perspective on life and a more complete social rehabilitation.
The first GSPD activity to which the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Italia ETS Foundation will offer its support will be the swimming crossing of the Strait of Messina, an undertaking that 12 Paralympic athletes will accomplish tomorrow, Sunday 16 June, covering the stretch of sea – 3,800 meters – which goes from Torre Faro near Capo Peloro (ME) until reaching the opposite bank on the Calabria side.
The Undersecretary of Defense, Sen., will take part in the crossing. Isabella Rauti, as part of the delegation received from Minister Crosetto to promote military sports activities for the Dicastery and referent of the initiative. The Undersecretary will follow the Paralympic athletes aboard an eight-person “Jole” boat, to give maximum strength to the message of social inclusion through sport that the world of Defense constantly carries forward.
The Foundation participated in the initiative by donating branded items and Oakley equipment (a brand of the EssilorLuxottica Group) to the entire team, but above all by making free vision screenings available to Paralympic athletes, thanks to the advice of ophthalmologists – Alessia Scolaro , Marianna Sindoni and Vincenza Iapichino – belonging to the staff of Prof. Pasquale Aragona, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Messina and Director of the UOC of Ophthalmology of the AOU “G. Martino” of Messina.
The words of Andrea Rendina
The free visits for the GSPD athletes took place today in a dedicated room set up inside the Capo Peloro hotel, which hosts the athletes. “The partnership with the Ministry of Defense gives our Foundation added value and allows us to reach more and more people and social sectors with our philanthropic activities – comments the Secretary General of the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Italia ETS Foundation, Andrea Rendina -; the event scheduled in Messina – continues Rendina – represents a solidarity initiative that brings together the Foundation and the Ministry of Defense with the common objective of improving the lives of those who find themselves in situations of marginality and fragility for the most varied reasons, which can range from physical disability to economic hardship , until marginalization; the help we offer for the prevention and treatment of the visual health of these people contributes, in fact, to their personal well-being and as individuals within society”.
The words of Pasquale Aragona
“In this new edition of the Paralympic crossing of the Strait of Messina – says Prof. Pasquale Aragon, Full Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Messina and Director of the UOC of Ophthalmology of the AOU “G. Martino” of Messina – the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Italia Foundation, in the person of the General Secretary Dr. Andrea Rendina, asked the Ophthalmology division of the AOU “G. Martino” a collaboration for carrying out preventive eye examinations on participants in the event. I happily accepted this request, aware of the importance of preventive medicine in the early diagnosis of ocular diseases, which, if neglected or diagnosed late, can lead to serious alterations capable of compromising the quality of vision and, therefore, of lives of those affected and their families. These initiatives have the great merit of raising awareness among the population on often overlooked social aspects and the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation contributes with its campaigns to increasing attention towards a precious asset such as sight“.
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