Blog: The Eyeglass Project

Written by: Elizabeth Hunter

Posted on Dec 8, 2011

In a world where we have access to all kinds of luxuries, it is hard to imagine living life without access to something as simple as sight. If we can’t see the newspaper, we buy a pair of readers. If our world is blurry, we get a new glasses prescription.

The large majority of us have some sort of refractive error that requires a simple pair of glasses to enable us to see clearly. The same is true all over the world. The difference for people that are less fortunate is that many have no access to a pair of glasses.

So there are people walking around legally blind, that require no heroic intervention to give them sight, other than a simple pair of glasses. It seems like a pretty wonderful opportunity to change people’s lives!

We started a charity called The Eyeglass Project. I know it seems ironic, a LASIK practice working to get people in glasses. 3D LASIK is amazing. I personally am a big fan of it. It provides an end to the inconvenience of glasses. But then what’s left? A pile of glasses that have lost their purpose.

Hunter Vision is partnering with TIME Ministries to bring those used eyeglasses (and any others we can get) to those who need them. We will be collecting eyeglasses beginning December 10th and will have drop boxes at two locations, Hunter Vision (located in the RDV Sportsplex), and Northland, A Church Distributed.

In 2012, a team from Hunter Vision will take used eyeglasses donations to the Dominican Republic to bring clear vision to those who don’t have access to it. But we can’t do it without your help. The donation of your used eyeglasses, something so seemingly simple, could give sight to the blind.

What do you think of being a part of this? How about telling your friends too? It doesn’t require money, just a pair of glasses that you don’t use anymore. At each of our drop locations, we will have tags for your glasses that give you the option of sharing your information with us. The purpose of getting your info is to let you see the difference that your glasses made. Our hope is to be able to send you a picture of a very happy person in glasses that were once your own. What fun!