Old Glasses given new life!

What a great thing to do - any old glasses lying around - the highlighted words can also be found on spellingcity.com - Extension eye article

Old glasses given new life

JOHN ANTHONY

Last updated 05:00 10/10/2012

NZ CLEAR VISION: Specsavers New Plymouth administrator Jillian Hill with some of the donated spectacles that will be sent to Pacific Islanders living in remote areas who can’t access or afford eye care.

Rejected spectacles are being shipped overseas to help poor-sighted Pacific Island villagers see.

Specsavers New Plymouth is asking Taranaki people to dig out old, unused glasses and donate them to visually impaired people in developing countries.

Specsavers will be accepting old glasses until October 31 before donating them to Pakeke Lions Club who will clean, label and package the glasses.

The specs are then given to Volunteer Ophthalmic Services Overseas (VOSO) who match the glasses to people living in isolated Pacific Island communities.

VOSO is made up of teams of eye surgeons, optometrists and eye care workers.

So far the project had provided more than 80,000 pairs of glasses valued at $15 million to Pacific Islanders.

Specsavers New Plymouth administrator Jillian Hill said the store had been collecting old glasses for about 15 years and usually received about 10 a week.

"Sometimes we can't use them because they're completely munted," Mrs Hill said.

The latest drive by Specsavers is to renew interest in the campaign, she said.

Most of the time the glasses scrubbed up OK and a pretty close eye sight match could be found.

"They can give someone else quality of life."

With most New Zealanders changing their glasses once every two years there were plenty of spares lying around, she said.

Specsavers New Plymouth owner Alison Cole said eye care in remote Pacific Island areas could be limited due to a shortage of clinics and trained optometrists.