Belfast Council Gets Behind Glasses Project

Belfast City Council is asking people to donate unwanted spectacles and glasses to a project helping to improve the sight of people in developing countries.

The Belfast Lions Club initiative is seeking to send old pairs of glasses to eye camps in developing countries and Eastern Europe.

Belfast Lions are working with the charity Extern and ArtsEkta on the project.

The donated glasses will be collected from Belfast's four recycling centres and shipped to a regional Lions centre in England where they will be sorted for distribution.

Councillor Steven Corr, chairman of the council’s Health and Environmental Services Committee, said: "This is a really great idea and I’m delighted that the council is involved in such a worthwhile project.

"We take a lot of things for granted here; people often have more than one pair of glasses and change them quite regularly, so to be able to help others in developing countries have the gift of better vision is really fantastic."

Michael Fisher, President of Belfast Lions Club, added: "In most developing countries, an eye test can cost as much as one month’s wages and a single eye doctor may serve a community of hundreds of thousands of people.

"This project is a good example of how Lions can make a difference not only in their own communities but worldwide."

(IT/CD)