Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief (OFDR)

Grant Criteria

Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief has changed the lives of many optometrists by providing immediate financial relief for critical and urgent needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.

Disasters are unpredictable and can be life-altering; it is our goal to ensure that the fund is always poised and ready to help, so doctors can get back to doing what they do best.

Qualifying disasters include but are not limited to hurricanes, tornadoes, civil unrest, earthquakes, floods, and fires. Qualifying disasters include but are not limited to hurricanes, tornadoes, civil unrest, earthquakes, floods, and fires. OFDR is available to aid doctors who have experienced property damage to their home or business due to a disaster situation.

Applying for a disaster relief grant is the first step to recovery. If you have recently experienced the effects of a catastrophic event, please read the  grant criteria and complete the  OFDR Application- Expired url and  Form W-9 in its entirety.

Apply for aid here.

Optometry students are now eligible to receive financial assistance of up to $250 from Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief.  Please note that our fund is set up to cover property damage to an optometry student’s home or possessions.

We make every effort to respond to your application within 5-7 business days. However, the application will not be considered complete until you submit at least one photo of the damage. We appreciate your patience and quick response to any follow-up questions we or the committee have about your application.

*Please note that our fund is set up to cover property damage to an optometrist’s home or practice.
Though we do not discount the significant impact of lost income, we cannot currently cover such a loss.

Check out the recent AOA news story on OFDR.

“Thank you to Optometry Cares and OFDR for the grant. It allowed me to reorder the new glasses and contact lenses that burned in my office (due to the Hawaii wildfires) while awaiting pick-up by patients. Luckily, I was able to contact most of them and get their new addresses (mostly post-office boxes because all their homes burned) and mail them. A few were so anxious, they picked up their glasses at my home.” -Rae Nagahiro, O.D.

Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief has provided over 1.2 million dollars in aid to over 500 optometrists across the country.

Industry Supporters

Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief is made possible with the generous support of:

News Coverage

Check out the recent AOA News story about Hurricane Ida.

Application for Support : Doctors

Online OFDR Application – Follow the link and submit an application.

We make every effort to respond to your application within 5-7 business days. However, the application will not be considered complete until you submit at least one photo of the damage. We appreciate your patience and quick response to any follow-up questions we or the committee has about your application.

*Please note that our fund is set up to cover property damage to an optometrist’s home or practice. Though we do not discount the significant impact of lost income, we cannot currently cover such a loss.

Application for Support: Students

Optometry students are now eligible to receive financial assistance up to $250 from Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief.  Please note that our fund is set up to cover property damage to an optometry student’s home or possessions.

Click HERE
if you are a student impacted by a recent natural disaster.

Assistance

Applying for a disaster relief grant is the first step to recovery. If you have recently experienced the effects of a catastrophic event, please read the grant criteria and complete the OFDR Application and Form W-9 in its entirety.

“When I locked the door to my office two days before the storm was to hit, I never imagined that my insurance company would soon be saying the words, “you are 100% not covered.” Somewhere buried in the hundreds of pages of clauses was the perfect scenario that prevented my coverage from the storm…. The $2,000 was such a welcome sight in the mail and has done much for my confidence in knowing that my business and staff will remain intact. Please pass on my sincere thanks and appreciation for what this group has done for me and so many of my colleagues.”

–Chad Moffitt, O.D.; Texas

Help optometrists like Dr. Moffitt. Donate now to help make certain that funds are available when the next disaster strikes.

When Disaster Strikes

Natural disasters keep optometrists from doing what they do best: helping patients. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the American Optometric Association created Optometry’s Fund for Disaster Relief to provide immediate financial relief to optometrists in need. Since its inception in 2005, over $1,000,000 in grants have been given.

The damage to structures and equipment is only part of the challenge facing affected practices. Many optometrists see their patients disperse to other areas of the country, further hampering practice recovery efforts. For some optometrists, it may be months before their home community stabilizes to allow recovery to begin. Without practice or patients, these optometrists have no means of generating income and require help with basic needs.