"Seeing" an Opportunity

Through the network of Rotary contacts, club member Bill Wood heard about this project. It was inspired by the visionary initiative of Ruth and Colin Perrott at the Rotary Club of York Ainsty, and  aims at getting useful life out of unwanted glasses. Bill decided to start making enquiries at local Aberdeen opticians to find out what they did with customers old spectacles. Turned out that shops had used, but  perfectly good, specs by the boxload sitting in store rooms. Thus began a personal project by Bill which to date has collected thousands of pairs of useable specs which have been fed in to the SpecSort system. Other Rotary Clubs in our area are now contributing. SpecSort collections are also undertaken by a number of other Rotary Clubs throughout the UK.

 Instead of bidding farewell to your old glasses, you can now contribute to a meaningful cause by recycling them to find a new lease on life. Once collected, the glasses undergo a meticulous process of sorting, cleaning, and grading. But that's just the beginning of their journey.

These refurbished spectacles embark on a transformative voyage to Africa, where they become invaluable aids to those in need. Through the efforts of dedicated volunteers from the UK, diagnostic clinics are set up, and the glasses are distributed to communities across various African nations.

So, if you find yourself with redundant or unwanted spectacles, don't hesitate. Get in touch with St Machar Rotary, and let Rotary take care of the rest.