In partnership with Vision Aid Overseas (VAO), The Optical Express Group has sponsored optometrists for over 15 years to travel to developing countries to help those whose lives are blighted by poor eye sight, particularly in cases where spectacles can help. Many people have an old pair of glasses lying around the house that they don't wear anymore and, although they mean nothing to that person, they could change someone else's life.
Optical Express clinics collect these 'old' spectacles and, with our growing laser business, the number of spectacles that are being handed in is growing too. To date, The Optical Express Group have donated over 150,000 pairs of their customers' old spectacles to VAO. Many of the children in Africa that attend schools for the blind or partially sighted would not be there if they had a pair of spectacles.
No eye care means no spectacles, and that makes work and education incredibly difficult, if not impossible. The difference good sight can make is immeasurable.
