Old glasses?!

Old glasses?

I have several pairs of old prescription glasses which I have kept aside with the intention of donating them, maybe to third world countries. There is nothing wrong with them other than they're not the right prescription for me any more, and I've heard you can donate glasses. Trouble is I don't actually know how to go about it, any ideas?

Here in PA, we have an organization called the "Lions Club" and they take donations of old glasses and hearing aids. We actually have a donation box at the Optometrist's office that I work for. I don't know if the Lion's Club is a Pennsylvania thing or if its nationwide. You could always Google them for your area.

Also, I'm sure your current doctor's office might know where they accept donations. Call 'em up and ask them! From what I understand, they neutralize the lenses (read the prescription off of the lenses) and distribute them in third world countries to people without ANY glasses. The prescription isn't EXACTLY what they would need, but right now, most of those people have nothing, so its better than nothing. Our Optometrist goes down to Honduras in South America and does eye exams on the people down there...he said its quite an experience and most of the those people are very farsighted (they can't see up close) because they don't read or anything down there. It was quite interesting to hear about all of that when he came back...

God Bless!