KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 – Have Hope, a grassroot service community, recently collaborated with the Baha’i Community of Kuala Lumpur Central and Metro Optical Group (MOG) to enable better vision for a refugee community.
After a successful event last year, Have Hope once again collaborated with the Baha’i Community of Kuala Lumpur Central this year in conjunction with the Baha’i Intercalary Days celebration (five days starting March 1 dedicated to charity, hospitality and gift-giving) to deliver this project, Have Hope founder Ho Yuet Mee said in a recent statement issued to Weekly Echo.
After cleaning the pre-loved glasses, the members of the Baha’i Community – from young to old – brought much joy and delight to members of a refugee community when they distributed to them more than 60 pairs of glasses on 25 February 2023 in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
This on-going service project by Have Hope distributes pre-used spectacles to members of needy communities who are in need of visual aids, and pivots on the collaborative efforts of other organisations.
Without any exchange of money in the entire service chain, the pre-used glasses move along the chain through the kind generosity and loving service of well-wishers and supporters until they finally reach the end recipients – truly acts of kindness creating endless ripples.
The chain starts off with owners who when no longer in need of their pre-loved glasses, kindly making arrangements to send them to Have Hope. Indeed, Have Hope is especially gratified to the Association of British Women of Malaysia (https://www.abwm.com.my/) and BL Optometrist, Bangsar (https://bl-optometrist-sdn-bhd.business.site/) for recently contributing large collections of pre-loved spectacles.
For this round of technical support, Have Hope collaborated with MOG Eyewear/Metro Optical Group. Upon learning about this project, MOG responded enthusiastically and agreed to lend their expertise and technical know-how and resources in the Klang Valley to help assess prescriptions of spectacles and labelling more than 100 pairs of glasses.
According to MOG CEO Datin Bernice Low, MOG was moved by the effort of Have Hope. “It is a very meaningful project that is in line with our aspiration to help the world see better through continuous innovation. It also is a good way to give used spectacles a second life and divert them away from the landfill.”
This initiative was started by Judyth Gregory-Smith who had for several years collected used glasses in Malaysia, Australia and the UK, and then would personally distribute them to isolated villages around Myanmar for people who have no hope of being able to buy them.
–WE