We’ve done it again! Thanks to University of Rochester employees and students we collected 223 pairs of glasses during the month of March.
The March collection was held in conjunction with the Recyclemania competition and National Eye Donor Month. Participants had two ways to donate; by using the intramural mail system at any time throughout the month, or dropping them off in the collection box in Wilson Commons until the 14th.
University Facilities and Services partnered with the Rochester/Finger Lakes Eye and Tissue Bank and glasses were ultimately sent to the Lions Club where program volunteers clean, sort, and package the glasses. Usable glasses are then sent to those in need, mostly in developing countries.
Our first collection was held as a pilot last August. Now that two collections have been held successfully, we are happy to continue the program in the future and will plan to hold another collection this summer.
As director of support operations Pat Beaumont put it, “Just think — because of this program 500 people will be able to see better!” This and any program that collects materials to be donated to those in need truly satisfies all three components of sustainability — society, economy and environment.
We would like to thank Karen Guarino of the Rochester Eye and Tissue Bank for all of her help and support. We look forward to our next collection!
Thanks for reading, guys. This program was very rewarding in that many pairs of glasses were spared from being wasted and were able to be used for something really awesome. I encourage you to look into programs like this around you; it’s a great way to reuse and there is always someone in need.
That is really awesome to see that you guys collected that many pairs of eye glasses! It’s a bit sad to see that there are people out there who cannot afford a simple pair of glasses. But good people like you exist and make their lives a lot easier. Come to think of it, I have a few old pairs of glasses laying around that I could donate.
It’s encouraging to hear when philanthropic efforts are arranged. Especially when it comes to enhancing vision or solving vision-related problems. It’s possibly the most important physical component to learning.