Half Helen

06/05/2026

5 days until half Helen turns 13!

While COVID-19 temporarily paused our ability to provide direct care, it didn't pause our mission. Children still needed access to vision care, and half Helen spent that time looking for new ways to reach them.

Optical Prime Jr. had already proven that bringing care directly to schools worked. However, one challenge remained: space. Our portable clinic required an available room where equipment could be set up, and not every school or community center could accommodate those needs.

So we began asking a new question. What if the clinic itself was mobile?

During the pandemic, we started designing what would eventually become a fully mobile eye clinic. Instead of transporting equipment into a building, we envisioned a clinic that could park right outside a school or community center and provide care from within the vehicle itself. As the months passed, the idea went through multiple iterations and our team worked tirelessly to build partnerships and secure funding to turn the vision into reality.

When schools eventually reopened, half Helen returned to the field to continue providing direct care. With students spending more time than ever on computers, tablets, and digital devices, clear vision became increasingly important for learning and success.

06/04/2026

6 Days until half Helen turns 13!

In 2019, half Helen entered a new era.

Up until this point, our work focused on identifying students who needed follow-up care and glasses. But identifying a vision problem was only part of the solution. Time, transportation, and cost remained major barriers that prevented many families from accessing the care their children needed.

As always, Chelsea began looking for ways to bridge that gap.

The answer was simple in concept: if families couldn't get to the eye doctor, why not bring the eye doctor to them?

The idea of a portable optometry lane began to take shape. To make that vision a reality, Chelsea pitched the concept during Impact Austin's annual grant cycle. After demonstrating how this innovative model could create immediate, measurable impact, half Helen was awarded a $100,000 grant to purchase the necessary equipment. With that support, Optical Prime Jr. was born.

A sprinter van was transformed into a mobile eye clinic, allowing half Helen to bring comprehensive eye exams directly to schools across Austin. For many students, this was their very first visit to an eye doctor.

06/03/2026

7 Days until half Helen turns 13!

After five years of conducting vision and hearing screenings and recording results on paper, Chelsea recognized another opportunity to innovate. Working alongside the screening team, half Helen began developing a digital solution that would streamline the screening process and make reporting easier for schools. The result was Swift Screen—an app designed to digitally record screening results and provide schools with access to reports that met state reporting requirements.

What started as a tool built to solve our own challenges quickly transformed the way half Helen worked. Teams no longer had to spend hours manually entering screening data, allowing them to focus more time on serving students and less time on paperwork.

The first version of swift Screen was simple, but our school partners immediately saw its potential. As interest grew, Chelsea realized this solution could benefit organizations far beyond half Helen. That realization led her to pitch swift Screen at Philanthropitch, a social impact competition that connects promising nonprofits and social enterprises with funding and support.

The idea resonated. swift Screen won big, bringing home more than $64,000 in funding to support further development and expansion. That investment allowed half Helen to transform a practical internal tool into a platform that could help schools and organizations improve their screening programs, extending our impact far beyond the students we could reach directly.

06/02/2026

8 days until half Helen turns 13!

2017 was a year of growth, advocacy, and recognition for half Helen.

As our vision screening program expanded, half Helen began serving schools across Central Texas, reaching communities as far south as San Antonio. One of our most significant partnerships was with KIPP schools in San Antonio, helping ensure that students received the vision screenings they needed to succeed in the classroom.

Beyond screenings, Chelsea worked closely with the Lions Club to advocate for better vision screening practices across Texas. These efforts contributed to the passage of Texas House Bill 3157, which expanded state vision screening requirements by authorizing the use of photoscreening technology in public and private schools. Chelsea's work through half Helen was recognized by the Texas State Board of Education when she was named a Hero for Children for helping provide vision screenings to more than 15,000 students. She was also honored as an Austin Young Chamber ChangeMaker for her commitment to improving children's access to vision care.

2017 also marked another fun milestone: half Helen hosted its first major fundraising event. The inaugural Glow Ball invited supporters to spend an evening playing night golf while raising funds to help expand our programs and reach more families in need.

06/01/2026

9 days until half Helen turns 13!

After returning to Texas in 2015, Chelsea began the next step in half Helen’s journey. Building on what she learned in Hawaii, half Helen expanded into a team of state-certified vision screeners.

With a growing team, half Helen was able to bring vision screenings directly to schools and community organizations. Together, they screened hundreds of students each day, helping identify children with potential vision problems and connecting families to the care they needed.

When she wasn't screening students, Chelsea spent her time meeting with community leaders, educators, healthcare providers, and advocates to share the importance of early vision detection. These conversations helped build the partnerships needed to drive meaningful change in the communities half Helen served. Her advocacy efforts even earned her the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Round Rock Express game, helping bring attention to the importance of children's vision health.

05/31/2026

10 days until half Helen turns 13!

In 2015, Chelsea Elliot was recognized as a CNN Hero for her work expanding access to vision care for children and families in need. The recognition helped shine a spotlight on an issue that often goes unnoticed: millions of children struggle with undiagnosed vision problems that can affect their education, confidence, and future opportunities. Through her work with half Helen, Chelsea demonstrated that a simple vision screening can be the first step toward changing a child’s life.

Being named a CNN Hero was an incredible honor, but the real impact was the awareness it brought to the importance of accessible vision care and the communities rallying together to make it possible.

Read Chelsea’s CNN Hero interview here:

Why don’t all U.S. states require school vision screenings? After going partially blind and deaf as a child, Chelsea Elliott is fighting to change that.

05/30/2026

11 days until half Helen turns 13!

Our countdown continues with one of half Helen’s first major projects. In 2014, Chelsea learned that the State of Hawaii had discontinued funding for state-mandated vision and hearing screenings. Recognizing the impact this could have on thousands of children, she saw an opportunity to put half Helen’s new Spot Vision Screener to work.

Chelsea began reaching out to local organizations, building partnerships, and coordinating efforts to screen more than 20,000 students across the island of Maui. Over the course of the project, thousands of children with potential vision problems were identified and connected with the care they needed. One memorable moment came when a screening identified a vision problem in the child of a Maui Electric employee. The experience was so meaningful that Chelsea was invited to speak at Maui Electric about the importance of children's vision health.

This project helped demonstrate what would become a core part of half Helen’s mission: identifying vision problems early and ensuring that children have access to the care they need to succeed.

05/29/2026

12 days until half Helen turns 13!

As we count down the days to half Helen’s 13th birthday, we’re looking back at the moments that shaped our organization and made this mission possible.

In 2013, Chelsea Elliot graduated from St. Edward’s University and founded half Helen after attending a community meeting where a guest speaker demonstrated the Spot Vision Screener. Inspired by the possibility of making vision care more accessible, she turned an idea into action.

After hosting a garage sale to cover the cost of registering a nonprofit and partnering with the Lions Club to secure funding for a vision screener, half Helen officially began. With little more than determination and a belief that everyone deserves access to vision care, Chelsea took the first step toward building what half Helen is today.

05/28/2026

Bingo tickets are officially on sale!

Join half Helen for Jukebox Bingo on Friday, September 11th from 6:30–9:30 PM at The Brewtorium Brewery & Kitchen! Enjoy a night of music, bingo, food, drinks, and fun while helping support half Helen’s pediatric vision care program.

https://halfhelen.org/bingo/

05/20/2026

Last week, we had the joy of delivering glasses to our friends at Decker Elementary School and Lagos Elementary . For many students, this was their very first pair of glasses, and getting to watch their personalities shine through as they picked out their favorite frames was so special. Thanks to the support of Warby Parker’s Pupils Project, students had more than 100 frame styles to choose from, giving each student the chance to find a pair that truly felt like them.

A special thank you to our friends at Santé Eyecare for joining us at both schools and helping ensure every pair of glasses fit perfectly!