Specsavers has once again demonstrated its capacity to make an impact with a full-day seminar, a gala dinner for 1,000 guests, performance awards, raffles, and a AU$200,000 donation to The Fred Hollows Foundation.
Marking 15 years of business in Australia and New Zealand, and five years of audiology, the event, held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, recognised the role store partners play in their local communities including “step changing the prevention of avoidable blindness and screening more than 2.5 million people for signs of hearing loss”.
The full-day event, which featured store partner panel discussions and business updates, provided a valuable chance for Specsavers’ store partners “to get together to learn, network and celebrate the last few years of success”, according to Specsavers Managing Director ANZ Paul Bott.
“The energy and passion throughout the day filled me with so much excitement for the years ahead,” he said.
Specsavers Excellence Awards
While the focus was on learning and networking during the day, the evening turned to celebration with the following recipients of the 2022 Specsavers Excellence Awards announced at a Gala Dinner hosted by comedy duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee:
• ANZ Best Place to Work: Specsavers Toowong,
• ANZ Loved by Customers: Specsavers Mt Gambier,
• NZ Optics Store of the Year: Specsavers Dunedin,
• AU Optics Store of the Year: Specsavers Strathpine,
• NZ Audiology Business of the Year: Specsavers Whanganui and Palmerston North, and
• AU Audiology Business of the Year: Specsavers Werribee.
$7m to The Fred Hollows Foundation
This year’s Excellence Awards also included a raffle and auction which raised more than $120,000 for The Fred Hollows Foundation. The donation was topped up to $200,000 by Specsavers.
“We’re incredibly passionate about our partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia and New Zealand and consider it an honour to have been alongside them as they’ve improved the eye health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia and restored and preserved sight in the Pacific. Our donation at the Partnership Seminar allowed us to reach a milestone of $7 million to the Foundation to date, which is something we are immensely proud of,” Mr Bott said.
The Fred Hollows Foundation Founding Director Gabi Hollows attended the event and in her donation acceptance speech said, “Fred would have been so proud of what this partnership has achieved. He’d be proud to see how hard we’ve worked to continue his legacy and how tirelessly we’ve campaigned to end avoidable blindness. Thank you for all you’ve done over the past 11 years.”
