New Foundation Puts Optical Dispensers at the Heart of South Pacific Eye Care
The SPEC Foundation launches with a mission to close the gap in vision care for underserved communities and it's putting optical dispensers front and centre.
A new registered charity is calling on Australia's optical dispensing community to step up in the fight against preventable vision impairment. The South Pacific Eye Care Foundation, known as the SPEC Foundation, has officially launched this month, targeting disadvantaged communities across Australia and developing regions of the South Pacific.
Unlike many existing eye care charities that organise their work around ophthalmologists and optometrists, the SPEC Foundation has been deliberately structured to harness the expertise of optical dispensers and dispensing opticians, a cohort the organisation says has been largely underutilised in the charitable space.
"There are relatively few avenues specifically dedicated to leveraging the unique skills of optical dispensers and dispensing opticians to improve the quality of life for people living with undiagnosed refractive errors.", SPEC Foundation, April 2026 launch statement.
The Foundation was co-founded by April Petrusma and Chedy Kalach, both experienced optical dispensers, who trace its origins to the ODA Outreach project, an initiative launched in 2024 under the banner of Optical Dispensers Australia (ODA). The pair led multiple volunteer outreach trips from Australia to Fiji, and say those experiences revealed that limited eye care access in the South Pacific is a deep, structural problem rather than a temporary one.
The SPEC Foundation was established in direct response, with the stated aim of building a sustainable, long-term model for delivering care where it is needed most. Its work will span mobile eye clinics and volunteer outreach projects, through which participants provide vision screenings, dispense free prescription spectacles, manage minor acute eye conditions, and coordinate referrals for more complex cases.
For optical dispensing businesses and practices, the Foundation has outlined a range of ways to get involved beyond individual volunteering including sponsorship arrangements, in-store donation boxes, customer contribution programs, sales-percentage pledges, and dedicated fundraising events. Physical and financial donations are also welcomed directly.
How to get involved:
- Donate goods or make a financial contribution via specfoundation.org.au
- Nominate SPEC Foundation as your practice's chosen charity partner
- Display in-store donation materials or pledge a percentage of sales
- Apply to volunteer via the ODA Outreach project (applications announced through ODA Today eNewsletter and ODA social channels)
Volunteer positions on outreach trips are open to qualified optical dispensers and dispensing opticians from both Australia and New Zealand, though places are described as limited. Applications are managed through ODA's existing communications channels.
The Foundation can be contacted at [email protected] or by phone on 1300 687 632. Further information is available at specfoundation.org.au.
