Brent Crandon won’t be seeing patients at his downtown optometry clinic during spring break.

But he won’t be relaxing on a sunny beach in Florida with his wife and three daughters, either.

Crandon will be much farther south, in a western Honduras village called Buenos Aires.

Crandon’s trip to Honduras will be his sixth venture since 1999 to provide eye exams to people in third-world countries.

And he’s about to make it a family tradition. Crandon’s oldest daughters, Lauren, 18, and Stephanie, 16, will join their father and several other volunteers the week of March 16.

“My dad’s been on several trips before, and we’ve always been at home wondering what he’s up to,” Lauren said. “So we’re really excited to have the opportunity to finally accompany him and get to just experience this whole different world.”

Brent Crandon is a member of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity.

Teams of 10 to 15 people organize and fund their own trips to foreign countries that don’t have access to eye care.

Crandon has been all over Central America — from Guatemala to the Dominican Republic — with VOSH.

He said every trip has been a new experience, with one thing in common.

“They all have next to nothing, for the most part, and yet they’re happy people,” Crandon said. “There’s a lesson to learn there for ourselves here in the West.”

Crandon said he hopes his daughters pick up that appreciation.

Volunteers accompanying the Crandons include optometrists Randall Pohlenz, Topeka, and Laurie White, Dodge City; KU pre-optometry sophomore Lauren Lester, 19; and former Lawrence city manager Mike Wildgen. The three optometrists will evaluate patients — Crandon said between 50 and 100 patients per doctor per day — while the other volunteers help in the clinic.

“I hope we do some good for a community in Honduras that needs help,” Wildgen said.