NEW YORK,   NEW YORK, June 28, 2007 – Retired United States Marine and ORBIS Advocate for Sight Mike Redding has embarked on a 2,175-mile trek along the Appalachian Trail, crossing 14 states from Georgia to Maine, to raise $100,000 for ORBIS International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide. 

According to the World Health Organization, 37 million people worldwide are blind — 28 million unnecessarily. A cure is often simple and inexpensive, but in the world’s poorest countries even basic medical help is frequently out of reach. This is where ORBIS steps in. ORBIS strives to eliminate avoidable blindness and restore sight in the developing world, where at least 90 percent of the blind and visually impaired reside. 

“During my military service, I witnessed many terrible things. However, the most shocking was seeing scores of helpless blind children in central and southern Africa. I was inspired by the work ORBIS was doing to help restore sight in this region and around the world,” said Redding. “Now that I’ve retired from the military, the time is right to act upon two things that are very important to me – hiking the Appalachian Trail, a lifelong dream of mine – and helping ORBIS.”

The journey, which began April 4, will take approximately six months to complete. To date, Redding has walked 1,000 miles of the trail.   Redding is collecting contributions, with all money going to support ORBIS programs.  He personally has made a per-mile pledge.  To help him reach his fundraising goal or keep track of his journey, visit www.orbis.org/SeeMikeHike.

“What Mike is doing for ORBIS is magnificent. He is an inspiration to all of us. I hope he enjoys every step he takes and knows that his efforts will make it possible for us to continue our work to reduce the number of blind in this world,” says Geoffrey Holland, executive director of ORBIS International.

About ORBIS International

The ORBIS Advocates for Sight program is a unique community of individuals of all ages and backgrounds who share a common vision of a world in which no one is needlessly blind and everyone has access to adequate eye care. The program provides individuals an opportunity to fundraise for ORBIS and raise awareness of ORBIS’s sight-saving programs worldwide. To become an Advocate for Sight, send an e-mail to advocatesforsight@orbis.org or call 1-800-ORBIS-US.

Since 1982, ORBIS volunteers and staff have directly restored the vision and transformed the lives of 4.4 million people in more than 85 countries. At the same time, ORBIS has been building local capacity to provide eye care in those countries by training more than 154,000 eye care professionals aboard the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital, in local hospitals, and through long-term national blindness prevention programs in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India and Vietnam.