Chagrin Falls Middle School French Club members from the second quarter W.I.N. period took on an exciting service project in December. They collected old eyeglasses to send to Haiti.
Middle School French Teacher Christine Briggs’ sister-in-law travels to Haiti every year with a group that does eye checks and then matches Haitians with the correct prescriptions. Before she leaves for Haiti, she takes the eyeglasses to area doctors where they have a machine that can read the prescription.
The glasses are tagged with the prescription information and then taken by suitcases to Haiti. Once there, volunteers provide a free eye care clinic and vision checks, and then do their best to match needy Haitians with eyeglasses.
According to research done by the students in the French Club, Haiti is about the size of Maryland and has a population of 10.3 million. It is so fragile that it’s not even considered a third world country. It’s actually considered a fifth world country and the poorest country in the southern hemisphere.
Since nearly 80 percent of Haiti’s population is in poverty, much of the population doesn’t have time or much money to go out and get eyeglasses, that is why we want to give them glasses that they need.
The students had collection boxes and made announcements at all four district buildings, and had many teachers and other district staff members contribute as well. All told, the club collected 75 pairs of eyeglasses that will be tagged and put on an airplane soon to help some deserving Haitians.
