Austinite Selected as Top 10 Finalist for CNN Hero of the Year Award Non-profit founder, Chelsea Elliott, helps school-age children 'see' their future

Austin, TX -- Anderson Cooper today announced the top 10 finalists for the CNN Hero of the Year Award. The announcement aired on CNN’s ‘New Day’ and CNN Digital. Finalists will be invited to a red-carpet event in Atlanta, GA, for an awards ceremony where the CNN Hero of the Year for 2015 will be selected.

Austin native Chelsea Elliott is the founder and executive director of a non-profit, the Half Helen Foundation, which she launched in 2013. The Half Helen Foundation provides free vision and hearing screenings to school-age children – particularly from lower income communities. By the end of 2015, the foundation will have screened more than 20,000 children in Texas and Hawaii since its inception.

“We are all so humbled by this nomination,” says Elliott. “The entire Half Helen team has been extremely diligent the past couple years, traveling between Texas and Hawaii, to make sure we are screening as many kids as possible – and this recognition is very encouraging.”

Now in its ninth year, CNN Heroes honors the missions of ordinary individuals who are impacting society in incredible ways. CNN’s online audience nominates, and eventually selects, the CNN Hero of the Year. The winner will receive a $100,000 award.

Elliott, who went blind in her left eye at just 4 years old due to a rare, yet preventable condition called Coats Disease, was born and raised in Austin, Texas and graduated with honors from St. Edwards University in 2013.

“We learn so much more about a child's vision health in a fraction of the time it takes to do a basic eye chart test,” Elliott told CNN. “[The SPOT Device] allows us to test for the six most common vision impairments in children in seconds. We are looking to see if they're near- sighted, if they're far-sighted, if they have astigmatism, or if they're at risk for conditions like lazy eye or strabismus or if there's a difference in pupil size.”

In the U.S., one in four children ages 5-17 have vision problems. The Half Helen Foundation provides referral reports to the school health aide to distribute to families and also offers assistance to families whose children need corrective wear or access to an eye care professional.

Air dates and times for the global broadcast of "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" 2015 will be announced in October.

About The Half Helen Foundation Half-Helen improves vision and hearing globally by advocating for and strengthening screening practices by identifying preventable vision and hearing barriers by offering vision and hearing screening services to underserved communities. Screening with Pre-K children and adolescents, undiagnosed vision and hearing impairments are among top indicators of low academic performance. We aim to increase access to preventive screening services in order to catch problems before they worsen. In addition to providing screening services, our organization helps clients secure additional medical services, if needed.

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