The United Synagogue

US Spectacles Collection To Correct Sight In The Developing World

PRESS RELEASE

London, 12th February, 2009

US SPECTACLES COLLECTION TO CORRECT SIGHT IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Project Chesed, the joint initiative of the United Synagogue and the London School of Jewish Studies, is embarking on an ambitious project supported by The Eye Warehouse, to collect thousands of unused pairs of spectacles from its members which will in turn be sent by Vision Aid Overseas to optical clinics in various African countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi and Zambia. With up to 200 million people in the developing world suffering from poor sight, Vision Aid Overseas will recycle Project Chesed's collection to create the correct prescriptions and enable those people to gain education and employment, and break out of a cycle of deepening poverty.

To date, Project Chesed has also secured the support of 20 opticians from across the community who are donating new unused stock to the collection. This will be given to World Jewish Relief's Optical Programme which provides free prescription glasses to Jewish communities in need in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. The Optical Programme, run entirely by volunteers, today provides prescription spectacles to over 5,000 people every year.

The Project Chesed collection is dedicated to the memory of Giles Van Colle, a US member and Jewish optician who was deeply involved in helping others and was tragically murdered in 2000.

Candice Woolfson, Director of Project Chesed, commented: "Intrinsic to our Jewish responsibility is an obligation to relieve the suffering of those in need and such a simple act as dropping off a pair of unused spectacles at your local shul can actually change someone's life. With the correct spectacles, people can learn, work and achieve a quality of life otherwise completely unobtainable.

We are so grateful for all the support we have received for this campaign, particularly from The Eye Warehouse and the 20 opticians who are so generously donating new stock."


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