Earnhardt Cares
Kevin met with the Donor Network of Arizona (DNA) and explained his charitable idea. He would work on fund raising, if DNA could provide the cornea tissue. The DNA was supportive and agreed to provide the corneas at no charge. Kevin began to build relationships with doctors in third world countries. The result of that work is all the doctor’s surgical skills have been donated as well. Through this generous cooperative effort, Let There Be Sight can now cure blindness for only $550.00! Can you believe someone’s sight can be restored for so little? $550 covers the cost of shipping the corneas, surgical supplies, anesthesia and operating room costs. 100% of all donations go to restoring a blind person’s sight. Kevin has created a website – www.lettherebesight.org – where people can learn more and donate, if they would like to help.
The Eye Bank Association of America recently honored Kevin Jr. by bestowing their annual “Gift of Sight” Award for his current work providing free cornea transplants to the poor and to his parents for their work almost a decade earlier. In 2000 Kevin Sr. and his wife Susan helped arrange 2 cornea transplants for a poor young university student in Morocco. Feeling so good about helping this young man they went on to pay for and organize quite a few more cornea transplants. Their charitable work in this area came to an end in 2003. In 2010, while a pre med student at Arizona State University, Kevin, Jr. thought back to the work his parents had done and decided it was his turn to help. He formed a non profit called Let There Be Sight and began fundraising. With money earned from a summer job, Kevin was able to fund the very first cornea transplant performed by Let There Be Sight. As of June 2011, Kevin Jr. has collected enough money to pay for 12 cornea transplants so far this year. The Eye Bank Association of America presented their prestigious annual “Gift of Sight” Award in Tucson, Arizona on June 23, 2011. Kevin Jr. just graduated from Arizona State University and hopes to attend medical school next year. His ultimate goal is to be selected to the University of Arizona Ophthalmology Residency Program and someday perform these sight giving surgeries himself.
Helping others is an Earnhardt Family tradition and it looks like that tradition is alive and well with the Kevin Murphy family.