FAQ

Yes. We have found that people in developing countries tend towards far-sightedness. (They have more trouble seeing things near to them.) So, many will need reading glasses for their everyday vision. When they turn 45, they will need even higher power to read as well as the lower power for everyday.

We wish we did. These never seem to be in the donations we receive.

We have found that about 35% of our customers are religious based groups, 20% are student groups, 25% are medical or optical teams and the rest are non specific philanthropic groups.

Yes, RestoringVision became a public charity non-profit effective March, 2012. Our Tax ID is 45-4920275

RestoringVision has not accepted major grants in several years. Thanks to very low overheard and glasses donations, we are able to sustain our operations just on the revenue from the sale of glasses. We would, however, always welcome support. Donations would allow us to promote our program to more groups.

Of course. Send an email to info@restoringvision.org indicating what you want to get and we’ll get back to you with the details.

We have relationships with a couple of companies that have a “buy one give one” program where they donate a pair of readers for every pair of glasses they sell. You are getting 25 of those donated glasses. Please support these companies.

We receive most of our glasses from US based manufacturers as donations. They may have excess inventory, styles that didn’t sell, returns or close outs. But the glasses are all new. Occasionally, we will have to purchase glasses to fill in gaps in our inventory—usually a particular power of readers. These are also new.

The readers are sorted into 25 pair bags by power and the sunglasses are in 15 pair bags. The sorting is done by people at developmentally challenged facilities in CA and FL.

A 300 or 400 pair box comes with some low, some medium and some high powers. This is usually sufficient for most mission trips. If you will be seeing post-cataract or older patients, you can order more high power glasses. Or, if you will be seeing more kids and young adults, you can order more low power glasses.

Because our glasses are donated, we don’t really know what we will have to give out before we get them. They come and go quickly. We don’t sort them by style or by sex. What we get is what you get.

We would like to get your order 4 weeks before you need it. It takes us some time to process it and then UPS takes a while to deliver it. We can do rush orders, but that costs more for shipping.

Yes, we will. We can make arrangements with UPS to cover freight and brokerage. The recipient will have to cover tax and duty. The shipping costs must be handled by email rather than on our website. Send an email to info@restoringvision.org for more information.

Absolutely not. If you’ve ever watched people at a drug store in the US, you can see that people can tell for themselves when they have the right power. We have mission tips and reading cards on our site for setting up a dispensary, but it very easy to do.

That’s a tough question. It’s probably better to take more than you think you’ll need. If you have extras, a nearby clinic or other public health facility will gladly take them.

We think sunglasses are vitally important. Even though they don’t have the immediate benefit of reading glasses, sunglasses provide eye protection and can prevent cataracts and pterygia. Most developing countries are nearer the equator than we are. So, the UV light is stronger. Plus there is often blowing dust and smoke. And people tend to work outside. So, their eyes need the protection that sunglasses offer.