IU student travels to Africa with Unite for Sight

Matthew Weinheimer found a way to combine his work with his passion by offering his optometry skills to those in need.

Weinheimer, a junior at IU, will be traveling to Accra, Ghana, in August as a volunteer for Unite for Sight. Unite for Sight is an international organization that provides eye care to improve the health of those living in impoverished and developing countries. Weinheimer said he hopes to help people living in Accra the only way he knows how – through eye care.

“Restoring someone’s sight is important to me,” he said. “I can’t wait to be able to help them.”

He has always been involved in helping others through volunteering at the Wonderlab Museum of Science, Health and Technology and being a campus tour guide. He is also the vice president of Theta Chi fraternity and a member of the Hutton Honors College. Weinheimer also plans to be president of the IU chapter of Unite for Sight, which he said he plans to start this fall. He is passionate about the organization’s goal and said he’s glad to be involved.

“Seeing the poverty people are in and what services we can provide them – it just hit me,” he said.

His girlfriend, sophomore Christina Dean, said she was attracted to Weinheimer’s dedication to volunteering and his studies.

“He goes out of his way to do so much,” she said.

Weinheimer is now working toward a major in experimental science and a minor in biology, but his true aim is to become an optometrist. He recently completed an internship with Hoosier Eye Doctor. He said he will always value what he learned during his internship at the eye center, and he hopes to learn more during his travel to Ghana and his studies at IU.

Hoosier Eye Doctor was impressed by Weinheimer’s rare dedication to learn, said Dr. Joe De Spirito, the optometrist at the center. He said he asked Weinheimer prior to starting his internship if he planned to do the minimum or if he actually wanted to be there. Weinheimer actually wanted to learn what the internship had to offer so that he could learn to help others, De Spirito said.

“Matt is going about it in a unique perspective,” De Spirito said. “He’s giving himself to people who need help. His sincerity, professionalism and dedication definitely shine through.”

IU optometry student and Hoosier Eye Doctor sales associate Sam Herbert worked with Weinheimer at Hoosier Eye Doctor. Herbert said it’s rare to see a student like him, and he was an easy student to teach. He said he isn’t concerned with Weinheimer going to Ghana or his future in optometry.

“He’ll do just fine,” Herbert said. “He came prepared. Students usually come expecting me to teach them everything, but he went out and did all the work on his own.”

Weinheimer said he is grateful to De Spirito and Herbert for taking him under their wing, and he plans to use what he learned to become the optometrist he wants to be – one who helps those in desperate need of eye care.

“I have so many opportunities to help people,” he said. “If they can see, they’ll have a better life.”