{"id":1010933,"date":"2026-09-26T03:51:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1010933\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T03:51:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:51:32","slug":"sc-students-get-free-glasses-featuring-carolina-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1010933\/","title":{"rendered":"SC students get free glasses featuring Carolina Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upstate students see clearly after surprise giveaway featuring Carolina Panthers<\/p>\n

\"DefaultSPARTANBURG, S.C. \u2014<\/p>\n

Confetti rained down Friday morning inside the Broome High School auditorium as nearly 200 Upstate students opened brand-new glasses and saw the world clearly, some for the first time.<\/p>\n

Students from Cannons Elementary, Cowpens Elementary, Pacolet Elementary and Clifdale Middle schools received the glasses at no cost through Vision To Learn, a nonprofit that brings eye screenings, exams and glasses directly to schools. The event was part of the David and Nicole Tepper Foundation’s expanded $3.4 million commitment to the organization.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Image<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC joined in the celebration, including Panthers legends Mike Rucker and Jonathan Stewart, Panthers mascot Sir Purr, the TopCats cheerleaders, and Charlotte FC mascot Sir Minty. For Rucker, a former Panthers defensive end, the moment was personal. He said that as a kid, he couldn’t tell a B from a D on the board. <\/p>\n

I just thought everybody was seeing the board the same way. It wasn’t until I was taken to get an exam to know that like, hey, I needed help. I needed some glasses.<\/p>\n

He said getting glasses helped him in the classroom and on the field, and watching students experience the same thing was the best part of the day.<\/p>\n

“I told the kids I had the best advantage in the house because I got to see them put their glasses on, and go from maybe cloudy to clear,” Rucker said.<\/p>\n

Vision To Learn President Ann Hollister said the need is often hidden. “If kids can’t read at grade level by third grade, they’re four times more likely to drop out of high school,” Hollister said. “And in the schools we visit, 90% of the kids who need glasses don’t have them.”<\/p>\n

According to District Three in Spartanburg County, the schools serve a student population that is 75.9% poverty, and without the program, the superintendent says many of these children would not have glasses. “They walked out of here wearing their glasses because it was cool,” Fowler said. “They saw Sir Purr and Jonathan Stewart wear them and make them look cool, so they don’t feel embarrassed or ashamed.”<\/p>\n

Fowler said this is Vision To Learn’s second year in Spartanburg County, and students can receive up to two pairs of glasses a year. She said the $3.4 million commitment from the David and Nicole Tepper Foundation will help expand the program to Greenville, Cherokee and Union counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Upstate students see clearly after surprise giveaway featuring Carolina Panthers SPARTANBURG, S.C. \u2014 Confetti rained down Friday morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1010934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[132264,132252,132269,132258,235,260,132266,2567,18160,132261,132259,6194,132257,132267,132262,7,132268,132251,38140,10251,5223,132254,6,88691,132260,236,2427,132265,2546,132263,132255,127654,1686,85022,132256,132250,28261,132253],"class_list":["post-1010933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-panthers","tag-brand-new-glass","tag-broome-high-school","tag-broome-high-school-auditorium","tag-cannons-elementary","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carolina-panthers-sir-purr","tag-carolinapanthers","tag-charlotte-fc","tag-clifdale-middle","tag-cowpens-elementary","tag-david","tag-david-and-nicole-tepper-foundation","tag-exam","tag-eye-screenings","tag-football","tag-free-glass","tag-glasses-giveaway","tag-jonathan-stewart","tag-kid","tag-learn","tag-mike-rucker","tag-nfl","tag-nicole-tepper-foundation","tag-pacolet-elementary","tag-panthers","tag-part","tag-sc-student","tag-school","tag-school-glasses","tag-sir-minty","tag-sir-purr","tag-south-carolina","tag-spartanburg-county","tag-topcats-cheerleaders","tag-upstate-students","tag-vision","tag-vision-to-learn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1010933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1010934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1010933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1010933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1010933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}