SpekTrek
This is run annually, normally towards the end of April, by Petersfield Lions Club. Used spectacles are collected from participating Lions clubs at a number of designated pick-up points, including The Lismoyne Hotel in Fleet. They are then passed to Chichester Lions Club for initial sorting prior to optical grading and onward despatch to Third World Countries. Many of these spectacles are given to patients treated at Eye-Camps, which are often sponsored by Lions Clubs.
Fleet Lions Club has participated in SpecTrek for over 27 years, and normally sponsors an Eye-Camp each Lion Year. To participate, we collect used spectacles from lions-labelled boxes we have placed in local Opticians and from individual members of the public who pass them on to us. Currently we collect from the following Opticians:
Fleet:
Specsavers Monthly
Harwoods Monthly
Brown & White bi-Monthly
Leightons bi-Monthly
Aldershot:
Vision Express bi-Monthly
The value of these spectacles to those people with impaired sight in Third World Countries cannot be over-emphasised, and participating in SpecTrek must be counted as one of the most worhwhile jobs we do.
This April we collected 3,200 pairs of spectacles in Fleet and Aldershot. With spectacles collected from neighbouring Lions clubs, we delivered a total of 19,000 pairs. What a difference that will make to education in the Third World! Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to donate their used specs and to the opticians who collected them on our behalf.
