FocusFirst, an Impact Alabama student service initiative, will conduct free vision screenings in Chilton County on Monday, Sept. 19.

The screenings will take place at E.M. Henry Head Start in Clanton, Jemison Head Start in Jemison and Maplesville Head Start in Maplesville at 9 a.m.

Impact Alabama partners with Sight Savers of America, a non-profit organization that provides free follow-up care for children who fail the screenings.

“We’ve screened 34,000 total,” said Lane Gilmore, Impact Alabama regional coordinator. “Within those kids we screen every year, 11 percent have vision problems.”

Founder and President Stephen Black started Impact in 2004. It is a student learning service initiative that takes recent college graduates and puts them to work in miscellaneous fields in the community, Gilmore said.

Impact currently serves children ages 6 months to 5 years in every county in Alabama.

“Six months to 5 years is typically the limit as far as people we can test,” Gilmore said. “They don’t have to know how to read to do the vision testing.”

For more information, contact Lane Gilmore at (205) 213-0492.