Giving old specs a new look

Eugene Van Demere (Greerton Lions club), Glen Donkerly (Specsavers), Ray Williams (Greerton Lions) and Max Drennan (Specsavers Tga) checking out a pair of glasses that have been donated. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Eyewear is not just a necessity for some people – it's also a fashion statement.

And like fashion, new trends are constantly updating. So what do you do with your old prescription lenses, when you update to a new pair of specs? Give them back.

During September, Specsavers in Bayfair Shopping Centre and Devonport Rd, Tauranga, are encouraging people to donate their old glasses, which will be gifted to the Lions Club New Zealand, who will pass it on to Vision Aid Overseas.

That's an international charity dedicated to fighting poverty by transforming access to eye care in developing countries.

So with a little bit of effort on your part, a significant difference can be made to someone's life by letting them see clearly for the first time. It gives your old spectacles a new look.

Specsavers Bayfair retail director Glenn Dunkerley says the Mount store's been given thousands of never-to-be-worn-again glasses since their collection started about seven years ago.

'We get all sorts of stuff. A lot of them are from people who've been to us before so they're bringing back frames that we've sold them.

'But every now and again we do get some that were bought elsewhere, even a pair of non-prescription sunglasses.

'In fact I was talking to Brian Hawkins [from Greerton Lions Club] and he was telling me in the last lot they collected they found two or three pairs of Prada sunglasses. So people are donating all sorts of styles.”

Specsavers in Mount Maunganui and Tauranga will also donate $5 from every paid eye exam to the Fred Hollows Foundation, which raises funds for cataract surgery to restore sight to the blind in the Asia Pacific Region.

Plus, when customers of both stores bring in their old pair, they'll get a discount on a new pair.

To donate your old pair of glasses, drop them to Specsavers on Devonport Rd or Bayfair Shopping Centre.

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