The York University – Libraries and YCAR team was named a top team in the Orbis Flight for Sight virtual event.
Jack Hang-tat Leong, associate dean, Research and Open Scholarship at the Office of the Dean of Libraries and faculty associate of York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR), organized York’s participation in the event. Participants included Dean of Libraries Joy Kirchner, Associate Professor Jessica Tsui-Yan Li and York University Libraries faculty and staff, Norda Bell, Genny Jon, Laszlo Juhos, Thumeka Mgwigwi, Tanya Prince, Dany Savard and Tom Scott.
The event was an immersive and engaging entertainment and team-building experience that invited teams to experience a virtual flight experience and explore all corners of the world. From the comfort of home, participants engaged in a variety of activities while fundraising to support quality and accessible eye care for all.
The York University team obtained top scores in this charity event after competing against other teams from Canada and United States through various rounds of live games, skill-testing trivia, and problem-solving challenges and won a championship title in the local section and first runner-up among the teams from all over the world.
“Our exceptional performance in this event reflects the strength of our inclusive and diverse team members who have expertise across the competition categories including, Canadian history and global cultures,” says Leong. “I would like to thank my colleagues at the York University Libraries and YCAR for their contributions and participation in this event.”
Together with York University and other participating teams, Orbis raised more than $153,000 to support and increase awareness of vision care and health education in developing countries.
This fundraising event provides fun and intellectually stimulating opportunities for members to contribute to restoring eyesight globally, outreach to health care, aerospace engineering and philanthropy communities, and develop a culturally diverse and compassionate team spirit.
For nearly 40 years, Orbis has been a global leader in helping to end avoidable blindness. Orbis operates a Flying Eye Hospital, along with many other initiatives, to build eye health capacity and create long-term, sustainable eye care solutions in low- and middle-income countries.
“I have been organizing a University team to take part in this annual event since 2015 and raised more than $17,900 for prevention of blindness with the generous support of The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy, University colleagues and the wider community. I am particularly proud this year to organize a joint team of the Libraries and YCAR to strengthen our collaboration and commitment in community outreach and engagement, and raise York University’s social impact,” says Leong.