Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

HAY RIVER
Though not all students at the Ecole Boreale need glasses, they are looking out for other people around the world who do.

Grade 4 students Victoria Tweedie-Pitre, Sydney Hiebert, Megan Buhler, Lauren Blair, Reegan Jungkind, Justin Morais, Kathryn Beck and Kaitlyn Ring assemble the glasses they’ve collected. The specs will be going to TWECS, an organization that collects glasses for people in the third world. - Angele Cano/NNSL photo

Grades 3 and 4 at the French school are collecting used eyeglasses until March 30 to donate to Third World Eyewear Society Canada as part of their school’s health program. So far, they have around 100 pairs.

Health teacher Jessica Gilbert said she chose the project because glasses – though not a basic life necessity – can dramatically change how a person lives. Although Hay River lacks facility for regular eye exams, there are places where it is even more difficult to receive those services.

“It’s not only for poor people, but for people who don’t have access to the service,” said Gilbert. “I wear glasses. I couldn’t live without my glasses. My life would be very different.”

Normally on a Thursday afternoon, a group of Grade 4 students at Ecole Boreale School in Hay River would be hitting the books in English class. But on this particular day, they were taking stocks of a few pieces of tempered glass that would help several people who need them to see those pages.

“I think it’s really nice for people who can’t afford glasses, so they can see,” said Kaitlyn Ring. “Some people here have two pairs of glasses and there are people over there who don’t have any.”

The class of eight bantered back and forth about the facts of the program and whether or not a portion of their collections would be sent to Sandwich Island in the south Pacific. A group of students gathered around the map to commiserate on their new discovery.

Inside two cardboard boxes, the class of eight peruses through bifocals, trifocals, thin-to-thick rimmed and transition lenses to line up all the pairs they’ve collected — 42 in this box — but there are more.

The students have done their research. Justin Morais explained the process that the glasses go through to get to where they are going. They are collected, thoroughly disinfected, and then tested for their strength. That way the lenses can be successfully paired up with a needy set of eyes.

So far the classes have collected specs from the Hay River Hospital, the Lions Club and several private donors. Gilbert’s objective is to collect 150 in total. They’ve also plastered posters all over town.

Gilbert said she hoped the project will build a sense of citizenship in the students and instill a sense of volunteerism.

“It may sound kind of kitsch to say it’s to make a better world,” said Gilbert, “But it’s to make them realize that the community needs them, and they need the community. In French we say ‘passer au suivant.’ It means to pass to the next, to pass it on.”

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.