By Lisa Van Orman Hadley

About one-fourth of the world’s population needs eyeglasses but either doesn’t have access to them or can’t afford them. If you’re anything like me, you have a drawer full of old frames and lenses ranging from when you were eight to when you were twenty-eight.

So, you have glasses and they need glasses. What to do?

Here’s an idea: Many vision centers and non-profit organizations take old spectacles and recycle them. They clean them up, repair them if necessary, determine the prescription and then ship them off to be distributed to people who need them around the world.

We think the match is brilliant: You get rid of your old stuff without adding to the landfill, and the newly bespectacled gets to see the leaves on the trees for maybe the first time (and if you have anything less than 20/20, you know what a beautiful thing that is). Improved vision can also help others find jobs and learn to read.

What’s that you say, Eagle Eyes? You don’t have a prescription? No problemo. Most places can also make good with old sunglasses (prescription or non). Find a donation center near you here.

{Make A Spectacle of Yourself}

www.givethegiftofsight.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 8:26 am and is filed under Hint of Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.