Donated glasses will help eliminate blindness

Generous Bexhillians have been supporting a local opticians bid to help eliminate avoidable blindness in developing countries by donating unwanted pairs of glasses.

The town’s Specsavers store has received 300 pairs of glasses in the last month and donations are still rolling in.

The unwanted specs are recycled by Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) a charity which specialises in providing eyecare for those in poverty-stricken countries around the world.

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Money made from recycling the glasses is then used to fund the charity’s work. Since its inception in 1987, the UK-based charity has helped over one million people in the developing world.

Bexhill Specsavers store director Rob Lofting said: “We would really like to thank the public for being so generous with their donations.

“Vision Aid Overseas is a fantastic organisation and we would love to continue to support the charity with the help of the community.

“We would like to encourage anyone with old glasses to drop them off at our in-store collection point.”

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Vision Aid Overseas works in Africa to transform access to eyecare services and is part of the Vision 2020 initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020.

Since 2003 Specsavers stores have collected and recycled over a quarter of a million glasses for the charity, and raised over £550,000.

This money has helped a number of projects including solely funding an eyecare clinic in the Zambian capital Lusaka, which was officially opened by Specsavers founder Dame Mary Perkins, and open eyecare outreach clinics in much of the country.

For further details on the charity visit: www.visionaidoverseas.org

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