Home

This year, 4 million used eyeglasses will be thrown out in North America while 153 million people worldwide suffer from uncorrected refractive errors.



EYEsee is an entirely student-run international health mission committed to helping the world’s poor experience corrected vision with recycled eyeglasses. We collect used eyeglasses in the U.S. and then recycle them for distribution to the poorest segments of the world’s population through overseas health missions. We aspire to reach out to the world’s poor to alleviate some of their poverty. We believe that everyone has the right to see clearly.

Why We Need Your Old Eyeglasses
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that of the 153 million people worldwide who have poor vision, 138 million or 90% live in African, Asian, and Latin American countries. This is because in many of these countries people cannot afford the cost of a simple pair of eyeglasses.

Yet, more than 4 million pairs of eyeglasses are discarded every year in the U.S. And while other service organizations have well established eyeglass collection programs, it is estimated that 3 million of all used eyeglasses in the U.S. remain uncollected. Our partner humanitarian organizations report that eyeglass donations in the U.S. have been significantly down in the last few years, and thousands of their indigent patients in the Third World countries are desperately in need of eyeglasses.

What Your Old Eyeglasses Are Worth
In the Third World countries, for a family for four who makes $4.00 a day, a pair of eyeglasses can be the equivalent of a year’s salary! As a result, large segments of the world’s population live with vision problems, adversely impacting their productivity, employability, and quality of life.

How Your Eyeglasses Can Benefit the Poor
Your donation of eyeglasses will enable many people to see clearly for the first time. It means that some people will be to get jobs and support their families; a child will be able to succeed in school; a mother will be able to read to her children; a senior will be able to live an independent lifestyle. Your simple act of charity will impact many lives for years to come.

Where Will Your Old Eyeglasses Go
After we clean and recycled your donated eyeglasses, they will be sent to some of the poorest countries in the world. Since 2009, we have recycled more than 40,000 eyeglasses which supplied health missions to the poor in Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Congo, Uganda, Nigeria and Togo (West Africa).

How Recycling Your Old Eyeglasses Can Benefit the Environment
Recycling used eyeglasses also helps our environment. U.S. laws are very strict about re-dispensing prescription products so recycling eyeglasses prevents plastics, metals, and cut lenses from ending up in landfills. Discarded eyeglasses pollute our environment and take up valuable landfill space. Recycling also stops the need for production of new materials, reducing carbon emissions. Discarded eyeglasses can be repaired and given to the poor throughout the world. Recycled eyeglasses can help thousands experience corrected vision.

Please consider assisting us with our mission by donating your used eyeglasses. The 'gift of sight' from your donation will perhaps allow a mother to finally see the faces of her children clearly, a senior citizen to read his Bible again, an abused woman to become self-reliant and thus break from domestic violence, an unemployed man to find a job and support his family again, or a child to finally excel in school.

Your used eyeglasses can make a difference in the world!



Make a donation >>