AROUND 2800 pairs of used prescription glasses from Mount Gambier be sent to developing countries as part of a Lions Club initiative to help improve the vision of people in need around the globe.
Lions Club of Mount Gambier member Ross Parkinson has spent the past 10 years heading up the initiative locally, recently finalising its latest collection.
“I really believe, quite deeply, that it’s a wonderful humanitarian project,” he said.
“I think the opportunity to recycle perfectly good glasses and get another life out of them, in one of those poorer countries, is an absolute ideal.”
Once collected, the glasses are transported to the Lions Recycle for Sight Australia site, headquartered in Queensland.
“Australia Post has adopted this project and they provide post free freight for boxes of used glasses from wherever they are in Australia to that processing site in Queensland,” Mr Parkinson said.
The glasses are machine and hand-cleaned before being sorted in lensometer machines and boxed according to prescription, ready for shipment to Lions Clubs, church missions and humanitarian groups overseas.
Scratched, damaged or unacceptable glasses are culled, so that only the best glasses are provided.
“If there’s members in our community that no longer require spectacles or if they wish to donate them to the Lions Club Mount Gambier, I’d be more than happy to chat to them and arrange collection,” Mr Parkinson said.
The Lion’s International Worldwide Eyeglass Recycling Program has been running for around 30 years and has resulted in more than 2.5 million pairs of prescription glasses being sent to people in need around the globe.
For further information please contact Ross Parkinson at rosstparkinson@gmail.com or call 0400 107 571.
