She's collecting used glasses to be recycled for use in impoverished countries.
Molly Szpakowski has found a use for your old frames.
Molly Szpakowski (Courtesy photo) Unwanted eyeglasses can be recycled for use by those who need them, both domestic and aboard. And the Hackettstown teen wants to collect them for charity.
"I started thinking about the unwanted glasses laying around my house and I decided to go on a mission to find how many I can collect. At the end of the day I found 8 pairs," she said. "So if I could do that in a day, imagine what community can do together and how many people we can help."
Szpakowski, a student at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, is gathering the glasses for New Eyes for the Needy, a New Jersey-based charity that purchases eyeglasses for those who need them in the U.S. and recycles donated glasses for others around the world. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal is a spokesman for the charity.
Since 2015, New Eyes helped 9,910 U.S. residents and recycled 248,945 glasses in 41 developing countries, according to its website.
Szpakowski said she has accrued 500 pairs since she began her project at the start of November. Her goal is 2,000.
This is not her first large charitable undertaking. Last year, Szpakowski collected nearly 9,000 used prescription containers for the Malawi Project, an Indianapolis-based humanitarian group that provides medicinal, educational and other forms of aid to the sub-Saharan nation and others in Africa.
Szpakowski previously said her family instilled the importance of volunteerism since she was young, and that she plans to be a doctor. She has traveled to Europe and Asia for charity work.
"I was able to clean the Black Forest, pick up trash off of the beaches, visit local schools and villages, spend invaluable time with the natives and so much more," Szpakowski told lehighvalleylive.com last year. "I got to experience culture in its purest form and see how different, yet similar humanity truly is."
HOW TO HELP
Szpakowski is collecting used and unwanted eyeglasses, sports glasses, children's glasses, empty frames and eyeglass cases. Prescription glasses and sunglasses are accepted.
Collection sites are set up at:
- St. James' Episcopal Church, Hackettstown.
- Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Great Meadows.
- Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Hackettstown.
- St. Jude Thaddeus Church, Budd Lake.
- St. Hedwig's Church, Elizabeth.
- Trinity United Methodist Church, Hackettstown.
- The House of the Good Shepherd retirement community, Hackettstown.
- Colonial Manor Retirement and Assisted Living Residence at Panther Valley, Allamuchy Township.
- Warren County Library (northeast branch), Independence Township.
- Flex Fitness Gym, Allaumchy Township.
- Hackettstown Regional Medical Center.
For more information or to arrange a pickup, contact Szpakowski at 908-914-1248 or m.szpakowski@comcast.net.
More information on New Eyes for the Needy can be found at www.new-eyes.org.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.