Islanders donate 3,000 pairs of glasses to charity

A Jersey woman has collected more than 3,000 pairs of glasses from islanders, which will be given to people with limited access to eye care around the world.

Trena Lewis, who works at World Travel, has hit the major milestone in just under two years.

Her current total of 3,047 pairs of glasses will be given to Lion's Club, a charity that sorts spectacles at a depot in the UK, before sending useable frames worldwide to those in need.

In 2023, Ms Lewis started the collection with a simple donation box in her office, but has since had to expand her operation to spare cupboards and the boot of her car to accommodate the generosity of islanders.

Schools, clients and community groups have been getting involved, with islanders regularly popping into the travel agency to drop off their used frames.

Ms Lewis said she's really happy to see young people in particular getting involved: "We've had a number of children come in.

"It's lovely to see them because I'm sure those glasses, once they've been sorted in the UK, will go to some really worthy children who are looking for glasses.

"Children are sitting in school and they can't see the board and we can help with our glasses that we would otherwise discard, so why would we not help?"

Lion's Club accepts both glasses and sunglasses of all shapes and sizes.

Trena said the charity would also accept broken frames : "Even those elements that are beyond repair and might be broken when we go through them, they are then responsibly recycled – so nothing is wasted."

Going forward, Trena's collection shows no signs of slowing down.

She said: "Why can't we try and do 5,000 by the end of the year? I'm hoping that from now until the end of December that we have a deluge of glasses from everybody rooting through their cupboards and drawers."

World Travel Jersey is open to collect islanders' glasses from 0900-16:00 Monday-Friday.

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [email protected].