The eyewear will be distributed to people who need it around the world.
Molly Szpakowski has seen another charity initiative through.
The Hackettstown resident and student at Morris Catholic High School in Denville collected 3,000 eyeglasses for charity, completing a drive she started last fall -- and surpassing her initial goal of 2,000 glasses.
The eyewear has been given to New Eyes for the Needy, a New Jersey-based group that purchases eyeglasses for those who need them in the U.S. and recycles donated glasses for others around the world. In 2015 and '16, the organization says it shipped almost 250,000 glasses to 41 countries.
Szpakowski said those she collected are destined to help people in places like Haiti, Ghana, Indonesia, Bolivia, China and Senegal.
"It makes me beyond happy to know that I will benefit the lives of so many people worldwide," Szpakowski said Wednesday in an email.
This was her second big charitable undertaking in recent years. In 2015, 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.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.