FINDLAY, Ohio — An estimated 500 kids in Hancock County are color blind and the Kiwanis Club of Findlay is on a mission to help them.
Members gave out the first round of EnChroma glasses to color blind kids on Wednesday.
Five kids are seeing life through a new lens... literally. For the first time, they're seeing vibrant, fuller colors.
The Kiwanis Club of Findlay is the first Kiwanis club in the country to partner with EnChroma.
The president, Shannan Connelly, explained seeing in color is oftentimes taken for granted.
"If you are told to look on a science elements chart - those are all in colors - you're missing out on that," she said. "If you are told to grab your green crayon and color the tree green, you don't know what color that is."
Stephanie and Ray Phillips knew something was off with their son Nathan's vision at a young age.
"In preschool, they would ask him to do things and he wasn't able to accomplish what he was supposed to be doing, like get the red bean bag," Stephanie Phillips said.
Color blindness runs in families and that's the case for the Payne family. Two of the three boys have a color vision deficiency.
But thanks to the EnChroma glasses, they now see the same colors.
"It's one of those things that was always curious to me is how they see the colors," said Emily Payne. "So, it's neat to know that they should be seeing the color the same way we see the color."
A total of 17 kids in Hancock County will receive new glasses to help them see color, but the Kiwanis Club of Findlay doesn't want the project to stop with those 17 kids.
Members say they want to help as many as they can in the future.