Spec-tacular charityneeds your glasses

Local residents are being asked to delve into their drawers in search of unwanted spectacles and help change lives in poverty stricken countries
Ken Rushbrooke Community Services chairman. Bexhill Lions Club recycle specs campaign 2014 SUS-141109-154621001Ken Rushbrooke Community Services chairman. Bexhill Lions Club recycle specs campaign 2014 SUS-141109-154621001
Ken Rushbrooke Community Services chairman. Bexhill Lions Club recycle specs campaign 2014 SUS-141109-154621001

Bexhill Lions Club actively supports the campaign which sees unwanted spectacles recycled at Medico France, in Le Havre. Medico France has the necessary equipment to clean and grade the spectacles ready for use in eye camps in Africa, India and Eastern Europe. The UK Lions Clubs provide more than 50% of the spectacles processed by Medico France.

Launched in 1967, the programme has distributed nearly a third of a million pairs of used glasses to those in need.

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Lion Ken Rushbrook, Community Service Chairman thanked those who provide facilities for the collection bins around the local area and Bexhill residents who have donated their unwanted glasses.

Prescription, reading glasses, sunglasses, plastic and metal frames are all accepted. Children’s glasses are especially needed.

Bexhill Lions Club President Richard Winrow said: “There are millions of people in developing nations pushed deeper into poverty simply because they don’t have glasses. They can’t learn, because reading is difficult. They can’t work to the best of their ability, because they can’t see clearly.

“For children, clear vision means a better education, healthier development and a better quality of life. For adults, it means greater employment opportunity and economic strength. For the elderly it means less dependence on others.”

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He added: “The World Health Organisation estimates that some 153 million people have vision impairments that can be quickly diagnosed and easy to treat with corrective lenses. So we can all easily change someone’s life just by donating an unwanted pair of glasses.”

Bexhill Lions have collection boxes for unwanted spectacles at various locations around the town: Sainsbury’s, Spectacle Hut, Specsavers, Green & Elliot, Old Town Surgery, Barry Edwards, St Richards School and Little Common Surgery.

Anyone interested in having a collection box is asked email: [email protected]. For information on Bexhill Lions visit: www.bexhill-lions.org or call Lion Rick on 0845833 9591.