The nine Specsavers Ópticas stores in Spain have renewed their commitment to support the Lions Clubs in their region. All stores are collecting used glasses and have made agreements with their local Lions groups to distribute those glasses to people who need them in developing countries.
Specsavers Ópticas and the Lions Club share the same goal – to end avoidable blindness and improve people’s vision, by ensuring everyone has access to glasses. On the Costa Blanca, the six Specsavers Ópticas stores are working with their local Lions Clubs and have made agreements with the Calpe and Benissa Lions, the Benidorm Lions and the Elche Lions Club, to collect unwanted glasses and put them to good use.
Specsavers Ópticas customers donate their old glasses at the store and these are picked up by Lions Club volunteers, then sent to the Melvin Jones glasses recycling centre near Alicante.
At the centre, they clean, repair and sort the glasses into the different prescriptions and then send the glasses to where they can be used again. They send around 100,000 pairs of glasses to over 30 countries each year, predominantly in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
“We take it for granted that we can correct our vision with a pair of glasses if our sight is bad” explained Francisco Jurado Director of Specsavers Ópticas Guardamar, Torrevieja and La Zenia, “but in many parts of the world people don’t have that luxury and poor eye sight can make life very difficult for vulnerable people.
Having a pair of glasses can really change someone’s life, by allowing them to return to work, or to continue their studies. This is why we are delighted to renew our agreement with the Lions Club to donate unwanted glasses and put them to good use.”
The Director of Melvin Jones glasses recycling centre, Antonio Sansano, joined Gemma Rodriguez from Elche Lions Club to collect over 1,000 glasses which were donated by Specsavers Ópticas customers in Torrevieja and Guardamar del Segura in December and Carole Saunders from Calpe and Benissa Lions picked up a further ten boxes of glasses from Specsavers Ópticas in Javea and Calpe.
During these collections, the Directors and the charity pledged to work together to ensure more people in developing countries have access to the glasses they so desperately need.
Gemma Rodriguez of the Elche Lions Club commented, “collaborations like these are so important to improve the life of millions of people, who are unable to lead a full life, as they can’t afford a pair of glasses. We aim to collect as many glasses as possible and work alongside charities and groups who make sure the glasses reach those who really need them.”
You can drop your unwanted glasses off at any of the six Specsavers Ópticas stores on the Costa Blanca; in Calpe, Javea, Benidorm, Torrevieja, Guardamar and the new store in La Zenia. Find your nearest store by visiting www.specsavers.es
