Sunderland opticians' specs appeal will change people's lives

Andrew Garvey, director of Specsavers in Sunderland, with some of the glasses to be recycled in support of the Vision Aid Overseas charity.

The Specsavers store collected the four-figure sum of used and unwanted specs from customers over the last six months.

The frames will be sent to Vision Aid Overseas (VAO), which recovers the metals within the frames and uses the income to help deliver vital eye care services to isolated communities in five African nations, as well as training local eye care workers.

Andrew Garvey, director of the Sunderland outlet, said: “We can’t thank our customers enough for their impressive contribution so far.

“We want to encourage our customers to keep dropping their old specs into our donations box in store, rather than having them gathering dust at home.

“Over the six months we’ve amassed quite a collection which, when recycled, will make a difference in people’s lives.”

The appeal is ongoing and specs can be dropped in to the store at Athenaeum Street.