I'm travelling to Myanmar in November and thinking what I have and was going to throw out. I have about half a dozen pairs of old spectacles that I had kept over the years in their cases. I was thinking of giving them all away to a very poor person. Do you think they would be of use to them or that they could benefit from them in some way? Obviously they don't need to be able to use them personally!
I'm not interested in responses like "why don't you give them …………. instead"!
Aren't specs numbered? I thought if they were incorrectly numbered they are akin to useless. I don't know how the numbering works but is it easy to get bang on with somebody who needs the same numbering as you? Also, my understanding was the glass was the expensive part and not necessarily the frame?
I was thinking of giving them all away to a very poor person
Maybe if you gave it to a proper shop, they could at least give it out to the correct person that needs that prescription. But then you run the risk that the shop would just sell it.
Give it to a spec shop that does collections, they'll sort them out.
Contact your local Lions Club who do what you are asking through their Recycle For Sight Program.
Due to the prescription in the glasses, it's not as simple as just going to a poor country and giving them the glasses. Whilst you might have the best of intentions - your best bet to make a difference in someone's life is to give it to an experience organisation (like the Lions Clubs) who can make sure it reaches the right person.
Even in developing countries, frames are very affordable. So unless you find someone with your exact prescription, they'll need to pay to have the lenses replaced anyway, which defeats the purpose of charity.
Yes, I agree with most of those comments. Just a few minor points. Firstly giving them to a local place in Australia to distribute somewhere will deny me the opportunity of seeing the big smile on the recipients face. Secondly, I never assumed that the person I give them to would use them. I was assuming that they would know somebody who could use them effectively or sell them do they could make a little money!
It would be better to let a eye care worker pick out the correct prescription for the person, rather than them risking eyestrain with the wrong glasses.
It is not charity if your main concern is giving yourself a ‘feel good’ moment, not the safest and most effective way to reuse the eyeglasses.
That is the kind of pressure that has warped the orphanage system, because tourists wanted a ‘feel good’ moment, most children in orphanages in some countries aren’t orphans, and are kept in poor conditions so tourists can feel good for a few minutes of volunteering, or the moment of handing over their donation http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-02/exploited-cambodian-ch… It would be better for the children if this kind of support could go to initiatives that keep them in their family homes, but you can’t drop by and get a selfie that way so ‘charity’ becomes concerned with making the giver feel good not the best outcome for the recipient.
Just give them USD, they would prefer that than glasses to sell
I give mine to specsavers for the people who need them, and they do ship overseas