Spectrek is a Lion’s project that collects unwanted spectacles and hearing aids, which are recycled for re-distribution to people who would not otherwise have access to them. Lions Clubs in the UK and from other European countries including France, Germany, Greece, Spain and Switzerland participate in this project. Scroll down to read more.
You can donate your unwanted spectacles at any of the following locations:
- Wokingham Medical Centre (Rose Street)
- Wokingham Library
- Wokingham Hospital (Reception)
- Wokingham Town Hall Information Centre
- Boots Opticians (Wokingham)
- Specsavers (Bracknell)
- Specsavers (Wokingham)
- Finchampstead Surgery
- Nuffield Health (cafe)
- Henry Street Nurseries (by checkouts)
- Woosehill Medical Centre
Hearing Aids
We also collect used hearing aids and deliver them with spectacles to one of the Lions sorting centres in Chichester or Birmingham. Dr Michael Nolan, formerly of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, receives the donations for sorting and refurbishment.
Adults and children with hearing impairment whose lives have been transformed after receiving recycled hearing equipment live in countries including: Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Lesotho, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Ukraine, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
The spectacle recycling story
Chichester Lions Club began collecting old glasses for recycling back in 1967. The initiative really took off in 1980 with a delivery of 700 sorted specs to the Missionary Optical Society (MOS) in Devon for use in their clinics in Kenya and India.
Gradually other Lions Clubs started feeding their recycled spectacles through Chichester. So in 1985, a link was established with Le Havre Lions and Medico France. Over the following five years some 100,000 specs, 43,000 lenses, and 10,000 frames were sent to Medico France while still delivering to MOS in Devon as many pairs of sorted specs as needed.
In 1988, another outlet was established through Vision Aid Overseas, and in 1990, a national campaign with Boots the Chemist and Help The Aged produced 460,000 pairs of specs in six months. Once sorted they went to places such as Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka, India, Zanzibar, Jamaica, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Spectacle donations arrive in Chichester in boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes. They are expertly sorted by Lions members and volunteers. Those sent onto Medico France are then cleaned and graded for use in eye camps in Africa, India, and Eastern Europe.
Through contacts with individuals and charities based in the UK, Chichester Lions make spectacles available for eye-camp projects overseas. Support is also provided for volunteers traveling on Unite For Sight projects who re-use spectacles for their individual projects.
Every year over 300,000 pairs of spectacles are sent to Medico France. Indeed, donations by UK Lions Clubs, recycled through Chichester, account for more than half of the total number of spectacles processed by Medico France.
