Helping the Poor

Published November 10, 2023

You may take your eyeglasses for granted, but many visually impaired people are forced to live without them.

According to a study by Onesight and Deloitte, approximately 1.1 billion people, or roughly 1 in 7 individuals worldwide, lack access to a simple pair of glasses and suffer from vision impairment as a result. This staggering number highlights the significant global need for improved access to eye care services and affordable eyeglasses.

For some people, a pair of eyeglasses is more than just a tool to see better. It can also be their lifeline. A woman who does crafts may lose her livelihood if she can’t see clearly. While a visually impaired student who can’t afford to buy glasses may quit school altogether.

So, if you have a pair of old but still functional eyeglasses lying around in your closet, don’t throw them away. Donate them instead. You’ll never know whose life you’ll change with those.

Aside from helping people, you’ll also do Mother Earth a favor. They won’t end up in landfills, and those plastic rims won’t add up to the pollution in our environment.

You can donate eyeglasses to help the poor and homeless through our christian charity online. Visit our homepage to find our online donation form. 

Where to Donate Old Eyeglasses

What do with old glasses? If they’re still good for use you can donate it! Here are organizations and businesses that accepts them:

1. Lions Club International (LCI)

LCI is a worldwide community of volunteers engaged in various charitable activities. They also have eyeglass recycling centers in various locations around the world. Seven of them are in the US. Their volunteers collect old but still usable donated glasses and ship them to the nearest eyeglass recycling centers. They are cleaned and carefully packaged there before being sent to eyeglass-dispensing missions.

They accept both sunglasses and reading glasses. Just drop your donation at any Lions or Leos Club collection point near you.

Learn more about donating by visiting the Lion’s Club website.

2. Respectacle

Harnessing the power of the internet, this charity connects people needing eyeglasses to those with some to spare. They only accept gently used eyeglasses, including prescription glasses, which are uploaded to their website. Anyone needing them must log in to their site and browse which prescription glasses match their needs.

What to do with old prescription glasses? ReSpectacle accepts them! You can ship your donations or drop them off at their drop-off locations all around the US.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the ReSpectacle website.

3. OneSight

For over 30 years, OneSight has committed to eliminating the global vision care crisis. It has helped people from 46 countries and established permanent vision centers worldwide.

Though they accept old eyeglasses, they only distribute new glasses in their missions. All donated eyewear is channeled to various Lions Club organizations to aid in their projects. You can drop your eyewear donations for them at Sears Optical and Pearle Vision drop-off centers.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the OneSight Foundation website.

4. Eyes of Hope

Launched by VSP Global, the Eyes of Hope Project aims to deliver eye care to those who most need it. Aside from mobile clinics, they also collect and distribute used eyeglasses worldwide. They accept new and gently used eyewear.

The VSP Eyes of Hope Program accepts used contact lenses, too, as long as they’re still intact. Some of their beneficiaries include poor communities and victims of natural and manmade disasters.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the VSP Vision website.

5. The Lighthouse

Based in Georgia, this charitable institution distributes recycled eyewear around the globe. They accept all types of eyeglasses in any condition. You can send them used phones and hearing aids, too. If you live too far from Georgia and don’t want to ship your donations, they have also partnered with Lions Club International. You can drop off your donations at any Lions collection center around the world.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the Lighthouse website.

6. Goodwill

We all know what Goodwill does. You’ve probably dropped off used clothes at least once in their stores. But did you know you can donate used eyeglasses, too? Yes, Goodwill accepts eyewear donations and matches them with low-income members of the community who need them.

They also partner with other charitable organizations to distribute the donated eyeglasses.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the Goodwill website.

7. Walmart

Most Walmart Vision Centers accept donated used glasses, including prescription, reading, and sunglasses. You’ll usually find those blue drop-off boxes near the store’s entrance and exit. Just make sure to wrap your eyeglass donation properly so it won’t get damaged inside the box.

Learn more about donating by visiting the Walmart Vision Center website.

8. Lens Crafters

Primarily known as an eyewear retailer, Lens Crafters also accepts donations of gently used prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses. In partnership with OneSight, they distribute the donated glasses to visually impaired people worldwide.

Aside from distributing eyeglasses, they also have vision clinics where volunteer doctors offer free eye exams and consultations to underprivileged patients. Patients can also get their own made-to-order glasses right on-site. 

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the LensCrafters website.

9. David Kind

Like Lens Crafters, David Kind also sells both prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses. But the company also has a program that lets customers trade their old eyeglasses for a $50 discount on their next purchase. The donated eyeglasses are sorted by prescription and given to someone in need.

However, their website’s fine print says that the offer is limited to one per customer. Plus, the brand of your eyeglass donation must also retail for $89 and up.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the David King website.

10. Salvation Army

Aside from used clothes, the Salvation Army also accepts various in-kind donations, including old eyeglasses. But they must be clean and undamaged. They sell everything they receive at their thrift stores and use the proceeds to fund their various charity programs.

Salvation Army has drop-off centers all across the US. If there is no drop-off location near you, you can also schedule a pick-up on their site, and they’ll come and get your donation right from your doorstep.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the Salvation Army website.

11. Costco

Costco has partnered with organizations like New Eyes for the Needy to donate members’ used glasses from their Optical Centers in warehouses throughout the United States. Donation boxes can be found at Costco Optical locations, where you can drop off your gently used glasses.

It’s important to note that Costco may not accept eyeglasses with broken frames or missing lenses. They typically prefer glasses in good condition that those in need can reuse.

Learn more about how you can donate by visiting the Costco Optical website.

12. VOSH

VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity) does accept old glasses as donations. VOSH is a nonprofit organization that provides eye care and eyeglasses to underserved communities worldwide.

After conducting eye exams, they collect, clean, measure, and sort used eyeglasses to distribute them to foreign countries. If you want to donate your old glasses to VOSH, you can contact them or visit the VOSH website for more information on the donation process.

13. Local Charity

If you don’t want to drive far or ship your donation, you can always give it to a local charity. That way, the eyeglasses won’t have to travel far and will benefit people from your community. Some optometrists also do eyewear donation drives for their patients who cannot afford prescription eyeglasses. You can visit one and inquire as to how you can make a donation.

Published Sept. 21, 2023

To most people, she is a role model of charity, compassion, and selflessness. To the homeless and destitute, she is the beacon that gives hope to their desperate existence.

Dubbed as “The Living Saint,” Mother Teresa has, without a doubt, made a massive impact on many people’s lives. She changed the world and inspired a lot of people in her own way.

Her journey wasn’t easy, though. She was criticized and humiliated, but that didn’t deter her. She continued to devote her life to caring for the sick, poor, and disadvantaged. In the process, she challenged stereotypes, broke boundaries, and taught us the true essence of charity.

Who was Mother Teresa?

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a missionary nun who was one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century. She founded the Missionaries of Charity – a religious organization dedicated to helping the poor. Through this, she was able to create programs and initiatives that made her an icon of charity around the world. In the Catholic Church, she is also known as Saint Teresa after she was canonized by Pope Francis in 2016.

The world came to know her as the hunched old lady wearing a white sari with blue borders. And if you didn’t know anything about her, you probably wouldn’t believe that this unassuming woman is a saint and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But her stature belied her strength and her passion for serving the poorest of the poor.

Even decades after her death, Mother Teresa’s life and works continued to inspire people and will most likely continue to inspire generations more.

Early Life

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia on August 26, 1910, to parents of Albanian descent. Her family wasn’t wealthy but they lived comfortably. Her father was a businessman who traded medicines and other goods and also worked as a construction contractor. He was also involved in politics and died when Mother Teresa was just 8 years old.

During her childhood years, her mother, who was a very pious woman, would often invite the city’s destitute to dine with them. When she asked her mother about the people dining with them, her mother would only say that “some of them are our relations but all of them are our people.” This created a profound impression on Young Agnes and introduced her to the concept of charity. At a young age, she became fascinated with the lives of missionaries in Bengal and their charitable efforts. Then at 12, she decided to commit herself to religious life.

Four years later, she left her home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Rathfarnham, Ireland with the intent of becoming a missionary. After a year in the Loreto Convent, she was sent to Darjeeling in India to begin her novitiate. There she learned Bengali and later became a principal at a charity school near their convent. Though far from luxurious, her life as a school principal was comfortable. But God had a different plan for her.

Heeding the Call

In 1943, the Bengal province experienced one of its worst famines. Close to 3 million people died of starvation, malaria, and other illnesses. Many families became homeless, and a great number of women became widows. And since widows were regarded as second-class citizens in the Bengali culture, many of them ended up begging on the streets of cities like Calcutta.

Inside the walls of the school, Sister Teresa, as she was known at that time, had a pretty comfortable life. But she had always been acutely aware of the poverty surrounding her. She could see the women begging on the streets and the emaciated orphans who often become victims of violence. Then a train ride going to a retreat changed her life forever.

While on the train, Mother Teresa received her second calling or what she referred to as “the call within a call.” She said that on that fateful journey, Christ talked to her and told her to leave everything and help the poorest of the poor. That’s what she did.

 Armed with basic medical training, strong faith, and a great desire to make a difference, Mother Teresa hit the streets of Calcutta. She had only one goal: to help “the unwanted, the unloved and the uncared for.” Out in the streets, she experienced poverty firsthand. She saw the horrors that street dwellers have to face every single day.

With this, she wasted no time turning her passion into action. She established an open-air school and set up a home for the dying. A few years later, people started recognizing her efforts and many joined in her cause. This led her to found a new religious congregation called the Missionaries of Charity.

Her new congregation started with only a handful of members. Most of them were former teachers or students of the charity school where she taught. When word of her efforts started to spread, donations started to pour in from all over India. And before she knew it, news of her charity work slowly started to spread all over the world. It also brought people’s attention to the pitiful plight of the street dwellers in Calcutta and in all of India.

As her congregation grew, so did Mother Teresa’s fame. By the 1960’s they had opened orphanages, hospices, and lepers houses throughout India. Then in 1965, they opened their first charitable house in Venezuela. This was followed by the establishment of more charity houses in other parts of the world. In 1971, Mother Teresa opened a house of charity in New York – the first one in the US.

But her brand of charity knows no religion. In 1987, she secretly traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, where at that time, Christian and Muslim populations were deeply segregated. She crossed the borders separating them and helped children from both faiths.

She also opened her charity houses to unwed mothers and even established a special home to care for those infected with HIV/AIDS.

Her efforts in fighting poverty around the world have won her numerous awards and peace prizes. She received the Jewel of India award and the Soviet Union’s Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee. Pope Paul VI also bestowed the Decree of Praise for the Missionaries of Charity. And in 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in bringing help to suffering humanity.

Death and Canonization

Mother Teresa passed away on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87 after years of deteriorating health. At the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity already had about 4,000 members.

In 2003, she was beatified and declared “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” by Pope John Paul II. Then in a canonization ceremony in Vatican City last 2016, Pope Francis declared her a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

How Mother Teresa Changed the World

She Showed Us The True Meaning of Charity

Many of us dreamed of changing the world, but only very few chose to act on it. And fewer still did it as bravely as this humble woman from Calcutta.

Her genuine desire to serve the poor is what propelled her to pursue this path. If you look at all her humanitarian efforts, her motivations are clear as day. She set up soup kitchens, a leper colony, orphanages, and a home for the dying destitute.

She treated the lepers, educated the poorest of the poor, and fed the homeless. She treated them like her family. All the criticisms and sly comments against her did nothing to extinguish the passion in her heart.

This selfless dedication flamed the fans of charitable awareness around the world. Many were inspired and joined Mother Teresa in her mission.

She could have chosen to ignore her calling, but she didn’t. Her decision to exchange a life of comfort with that of poverty earned her the world’s admiration. This act of hers showed the world that material things won’t bring happiness as much as helping others.

Universal Love

Aside from her passion for serving the poor, Mother Teresa changed the world and also inspired us by showing what universal love means.

She didn’t care if someone was white, black, brown, yellow, young, old, male, or female. In the summer of 1982, she even went to Beirut to help both Christian and Muslim children.

At a time when people with HIV/AIDS were looked down on, her universal love lifted them up. She set up Gift of Love, a home that cares for those infected with the disease.

She was even quoted saying:

“When you judge someone, you have no time to love them.”

Universal love became one of the core principles of The Missionaries of Charity which has now more than 5,000 members in various countries across the globe.

Promoting Peace and Forgiveness

Another way in which Mother Teresa changed the world was by promoting peace and forgiveness. She believed peace began with a smile and lived by this philosophy daily. She worked tirelessly to bridge gaps in a world filled with conflicts and divisions. She promoted harmony among different communities.

Mother Teresa’s efforts were particularly evident during times of crisis and conflict. For instance, during the 1992-1993 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she visited the country and contacted both sides. She offered support and compassion to everyone affected by the violence. Her presence and words brought hope and healing to many.

Through her actions, Mother Teresa taught us the power of forgiveness. She believed forgiving others brings inner peace and helps build a compassionate, united society. By forgiving those who wronged her or the Missionaries of Charity, she showed us that forgiveness can transform lives. That it can mend broken relationships.

Advocating for the Dignity of Every Human Being

Mother Teresa changed the world by advocating for the dignity of every human being. She recognized every person’s worth and value, regardless of their social status or circumstances.

She spoke out against societal injustices and fought for the rights of the marginalized and oppressed. Mother Teresa believed that no one should be treated as less than human. She dedicated her life to ensuring everyone received love, care, and respect.

Her work with the poor, the sick, and the dying was a testament to her commitment to upholding human dignity. She taught us that everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and valued, regardless of background or condition.