Night for Sight, the John A. Moran Eye Center’s largest community event benefitting the Global Outreach Division’s work to end curable blindness in Utah and worldwide, exceeded a fundraising goal of $1 million.
The October 9, 2021 event—including speakers, video, and online silent auction—honored the life and legacy of Alan S. Crandall, MD. All proceeds will support The Alan S. Crandall, MD, Endowment in Global Outreach for Patient Care, Teaching, and Training.
"I am awestruck by the outpouring of support we’ve received, and I am just ecstatic that we have met our fundraising goal," said Moran CEO Randall J Olson, MD. "It’s an amazing tribute to Alan. I want to thank all of you—our sponsors, donors, committee members, board members, colleagues, patients, and friends for seeing the need and rising to meet it. Alan would be proud and profoundly grateful to each of you."
Moran moved the biannual event online for the first time after considering the impact of the COVID-19 Delta variant in Utah. Olson joined auctioneer Bill Menish, a favorite from past Night for Sight events, on stage at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City for a broadcast streamed live at NFS2021.givesmart.com.
The event raised more than $1.2 million, including a matching $500,000 donation from an anonymous supporter.
About the Moran Eye Center's Outreach Program
Crandall, who passed away in October 2020, founded the outreach program, a premier institute for ophthalmology outreach in the United States that is supported solely by donors.
The Moran Eye Center trains doctors, nurses, and other eye care professionals in more than 25 countries. Moran brings the most promising international surgeons to the eye center for intensive training and sends Utah medical residents abroad.
At medical camps in the field, Moran surgeons restore sight to hundreds of patients in a week while teaching local trainees. In Utah, the division provides charitable care to thousands of individuals without adequate access to ophthalmic services across the state and on the Navajo Nation.
About The Alan S. Crandall, MD, Endowment in Global Outreach for Patient Care, Teaching, and Training
The new endowment provides a lasting impact and ensures Crandall's legacy of charitable eye care will continue.
A portion of the funds from the endowment will go directly to Moran's Global Outreach Division to provide excellent patient care and teach and train ophthalmologists in Utah and worldwide.
The remaining endowment funds are added to the principle, which grows over time, ensuring that Moran can continue Crandall's work for decades to come.