Gift your old glasses

The Body Shop campaign will donate eyewear to a charitable eye hospital in India

When the prescription for our glasses changes, we discard our old lenses and get new ones made.

We do the same with old frames and sunglasses when we go in for a new look. But did you know that these discarded glasses could bring light into the lives of many blind people?

You can provide the gift of vision to many needy people by donating old and even damaged spectacles, frames, sunglasses and lenses to the 'Gift Your Glasses' campaign run by The Body Shop.

The eyewear collected through the campaign will be sent to the ICARE Charitable Eye Hospital, in Delhi, India. The hospital provides free eye treatment to the needy, many of who are visually handicapped only because they cannot afford treatment.

The glasses are cleaned and damaged frames repaired. These are then given free to the needy. The hospital has a high need for sunglasses that are required by patients after cataract and other surgeries.

"We first ran this campaign in 1994, when the glasses collected were sent to an eye hospital in Pakistan.

The campaign was revived last year and the glasses were sent to the ICARE Charitable Eye Hospital. With the support of UAE residents over 6,000 pairs of spectacles, sunglasses, frames and lenses have so far been sent to the two hospitals.

We are running the campaign again this year because Dr. Sushil Chaudhary from the ICARE Hospital requested for more donations to enable them to help more poor communities in the area," says Andrew Knappet, general manager, The Body Shop, UAE.

"I would also like to appeal to optical stores in the UAE to donate old and unused glasses, frames and lenses," adds Knappet.

Donations can be dropped at The Body Shop outlets in Deira City Centre, Jumeirah Centre, Spinneys, Al Ghurair City, Sharjah Mega Mall, Manar Mall in Ras Al Khaimah, Al Jimi Shopping Centre Al Ain and Abu Dhabi Mall and Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi.