Local high school students in Morris and Ottawa will help thousands of people receive eye glasses around the world through an ongoing project with I Care International.

I Care is an organization dedicated to improving the vision and hearing of those in need. Dr. Phil Ortiz, a now-retired Morris optometrist, and the late Dr. Charles Cools of Princeton, Ill., founded the organization in 1989.

The organization has units in Illinois, California and Canada, traveling around the world at the individuals own expense, providing eye care to those who otherwise would never receive it. Mission trips have been to places such as Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, as well as several trips within the United States.