April Lufriu, Mrs. World & Mrs. America, MOMS for Sight, Inc., Tampa, FL

The Jacksonville Chapter was lucky enough to meet another Mom on a Mission for Sight through Foundation Fighting Blindness. She's attended two VISIONS conferences as Mrs. America and she actually took the time out of her busy schedule to attend one of our Jacksonville events to raise money for the Jacksonville VisionWalk. She knew her sister had Retinitis Pigmentosa so she and her sister established the Tampa, FL Chapter of Foundation Fighting Blindness and the VisionWalks. Then, she and her two children were both diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa themselves. Now they weren't just fighting for her sister, they were fighting for their whole family, present and future. To quote April, "The news of our children's diagnosis brought my husband & I to our knees." April was a sister on a mission, but she is now a mom on a mission and she had the courage to raise awareness like no one else ever has for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. She joined the pageant world again, as a married mom. After representing as Mrs. Ybor City, she won Mrs. Florida 2011. Then, she won Mrs. America 2011 and became the official spokeswoman for Foundation Fighting Blindness. Even better news came months later when we all heard that she won Mrs. World 2012. Her "platform" for the pageant was always to raise awareness about vision robbing diseases like Retinitis Pigmentosa. Thanks to April, millions of people who never even heard of these diseases before are aware and hopefully opening up their hearts and wallets to raise funds for cures. We, in Jacksonville, feel honored to have such a wonderful, beautiful and extremely gracious woman as one of our MOMS for Sight!