Opticians gives gift of vision to people in need

On Friday, Emma will be donating her practice eye exam fees to help provide eye exams and glasses to children who can't see to learn at school and adults who can't see to provide for their families.

Optometry Giving Sight is the organiser of the World Sight Day Challenge and jointly collaborates with Vision Aid Overseas in the UK. The funds raised go towards sustainable programs that train local eye care professionals and develop vision centres which provide permanent vision care to people in desperate need.

There are 670 million people around the world who are blind or vision impaired simply due to uncorrected refractive error – that's more than ten times the population of the UK.

"This is my first year supporting Optometry Giving Sight for and I am proud to support such a worthwhile cause," said Emma. "It's easy to take vision care for granted here in the UK, so taking the World Sight Day Challenge is a great way to raise funds to give sight to people who don't have access to the vision care my patients do."

It can cost just 2.50 to provide an eye examination and a pair of glasses in some developing countries. This alone could be enough to save someone from the injustices of poverty. Emma invites her patients to make a donation at Emma Richmond Opticians during the month of October.

Optometry Giving Sight guarantees that 85% of all funds raised by optometrists and their patients go directly to programs that give sight to those most in need.

Emma Richmond Opticians is located at 9 Quay Road, Ballycastle. Call 028 20768908 to arrange an appointment.

For more information about Optometry Giving Sight and the World Sight Day Challenge, visit www.givingsight.org.