www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday September 6, 2006 - 11 Indian Summer at Crawford Lake Crawford Lake Conservation Area is holding its 19th annual Indian Summer Festival on Sept. 17. The festivities, celebrating Ontario's Aboriginal heritage, are from 10- 5 p.m. Crawford Lake is located on the corner of Steeles Avenue at Guelph Line, 15 km north of the QEW, and 5 km south of the 401. Admission for this special celebration is $6 per person (GST included), with those four and under admitted free. For information call 905-854-0234 or visit the Conservation Halton website at www.conservationhalton.on.ca. BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER THROUGH THEIR EYES: Twelve-year-old Molly Burke, who is visually-impaired, and Amin Mamdani, owner of Squint Eyewear in Oakville, take a close look at the store's interactive display See The World Through Our Eyes aimed at raising eye health awareness and money for The Foundation Fighting Blindness. Squint Eyewear launches vision awareness campaign During September, Squint Eyewear and The Foundation Fighting Blindness are teaming up for an eye health awareness campaign themed, See The World Through Our Eyes. The campaign, which was unveiled at the Oakville-based eyewear store, aims at educating consumers about the importance of eye health and vision research in Canada. The store's interactive display will give consumers a chance to see the world through the eyes of someone affected by blindness, by giving out "RP glasses." The glasses simulate what it's like to have an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the leading cause of inherited blindness among children. Symptoms of RP, such as night blindness, first appear in early childhood. Often a parent may notice their child having difficulty seeing at night. Other symptoms include the loss of peripheral vision, creating a tunnel vision effect; and difficulty distinguishing colours. "As an optician, I am keenly aware of how important our eyesight is and the difference corrective eyewear makes to people's lives every day," said Amin Mamdani, owner of Squint Eyewear, 286 Lakeshore Rd. E. "But when I learned of The Foundation Fighting Blindness and its mission to help those, particularly children and older Canadians, who are losing their sight to eye diseases, I knew there was more I wanted to do to help." In addition to the awareness campaign, the store is donating a portion of its sales of glasses and frames, throughout September, to The Foundation Fighting Blindness. The goal is to raise $5,000 for vision research. The store will also host a Family Day in which children, who are affected by blindness, and their families, will visit the store to share their message of hope and give out custommade, "I helped fight blindness" buttons and fun stickers for kids. The Foundation Fighting Blindness is the only charity in Canada dedicated solely to funding research to find treatments and cures for retinal diseases, like retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and macular degeneration. More than two million Canadians are affected by degenerative retinal diseases, for which there are few effective treatments and no cures.