About the Murphy's

Dr. Carter L. Murphy graduated from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1969. He served two years as an optometrist in the Navy and has been in practice in Williamsburg, Virginia, for over 35 years. He and his wife, Gloria, are the parents of two daughters and the grandparents of seven grandchildren. Both he and his wife are active in their church and community.

The Birth of Eye Care from the Heart
In the year 2000 the Murphy’s had the opportunity to travel to Bucha, Ukraine, with a group from their church, the Williamsburg Community Chapel. Bucha Bethany Baptist Church is the Chapel’s sister church in the Ukraine, and the Chapel is in the ministry with them there in Bucha. During this visit the group observed ways in which the Chapel could help the Bucha church in ministry or projects. However, because of Dr. Murphy’s profession, he noticed the lack of good, quality health care, and in particular, eye care. He and his wife committed together to go back to Ukraine, and six months later they left, along with four individuals from their church, on an eye care ministry trip. Over 1,300 pair of used eyeglasses were collected through the church, community, and Dr. Murphy’s office. These eyeglasses were cleaned, catalogued and carefully packed.  Dr. Murphy performed over 300 eye exams on that inaugural trip. A year later he and his wife returned to Ukraine on a fact finding mission to see if it was feasible to return to Ukraine for an extended period of time and set up temporary eye clinics. In which free eye exams would be performed and free eyeglasses would be ordered. Dr. and Mrs. Murphy knew when they returned home they were to go back. In preparation to return, they were advised to set up a humanitarian corporation and apply for non-profit status. They have since been granted the Certificate of Incorporation from the State of Virginia for “Eye Care from the Heart, Inc.”, and have received Federal Non-Profit status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.   With the formation of the corporation in place, the Murphy's now travel back and forth to Ukraine and the former Soviet Union working in parallel with Evangelism Explosion Eurasia (known as Heart to Heart Ministries.

Plans for the Future
The 2009 ministry trips were cancelled because of injuries Dr. Murphy sustained in a car accident on December 23, 2008. A Fall, 2010, ministry trip is now being planned. They would like to include more eye care health professionals who have a desire to participate in this ministry in Ukraine.

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