Way to Go: Epiphany and Gabrielle Ramirez, Huntington Station
Gabrielle Ramirez, 17, a senior at Walt Whitman High School, and her sister Epiphany Ramirez co-founded the nonprofit Eye Partners Inspire, which has collected about 1,000 gently used eyeglass frames since its inception last year. Credit: Ramirez family
Two Suffolk County sisters are working to give the gift of clearer vision to hundreds of Long Islanders.
Walt Whitman High School students Epiphany and Gabrielle Ramirez co-founded the nonprofit Eye Partners Inspire, which has collected about 1,000 gently used eyeglass frames since its inception last year. Epiphany, 16, is a junior and Gabrielle, 17, is a senior.
The sisters got the idea as a result of Epiphany's struggles with ocular albinism, a genetic condition that affects the pigment in the eyes. That brought the realization of the cost of eyeglass frames, Gabrielle said.
"I never thought that what started as an inkling could grow into a nonprofit," she said.
The two created the organization after the Women's Fund of Long Island named Gabrielle a Young Woman Leader, a designation that came with a $1,000 grant that the girls used to begin their efforts. The sisters created a website and set up collection bins.
To pass out the frames, they held events at St. Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church in Huntington Station and St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church in Brentwood.
Visit epilongisland.org to donate.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
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