Specsavers' €100,000 for Kolkata Hope Hospital
Throughout 2019, Specsavers Ireland raised an outstanding €100,000 in aid of charity partner, The Hope Foundation.
Having raised €75,000 for The Hope Foundation in 2018, Specsavers surpassed this target in 2019, raising a further €100,000 for the charity to date. All these funds will go to the Hope Foundation to support the running of the eye clinic in Hope Hospital Kolkata. The money will also be used to purchase much-needed, high-quality optical equipment to care for the underprivileged people of Kolkata.
Speaking of the funds raised by Specsavers in aid of The Hope Foundation, store director at Specsavers Ashbourne, Kerril Hickey comments: ‘I am so thankful to the staff of Specsavers Ashbourne and our customers who made such generous contributions in aid of this well-deserving charity throughout 2019. In Ireland, we have access to excellent eye care but many people in Kolkata are not as lucky, making it vital that we do all we can to improve their eye health services. We have big goals for the year ahead and hope that we can continue to raise much-needed funds.’
Specsavers stores across Ireland hosted fundraising bake sales, raffles, table quizzes and golf classics throughout the year to raise funds in aid of the charity. Specsavers has announced its ongoing commitment to supporting The Hope Foundation in 2020.
At the end of 2019, a team of 10 from Specsavers travelled to Kolkata alongside The Hope Foundation where they spent a week providing vital eye care to the street and slum communities. Over 1,500 eye tests were carried out, benefiting people across slums, schools, hospitals and rural villages in the region, with over 1,200 pairs of glasses dispensed to those who were tested. The team also visited the Eye Clinic at the Hope Hospital, which Specsavers funds annually.
The Hope Foundation Ireland is a registered Irish charity working with street and slum children in Kolkata. The charity works to free children and poor families from lives of pain, abuse, poverty and darkness and seeks to improve their lives by providing access to healthcare and nutrition, education, drug rehabilitation and life skills and training. With the help of Specsavers and The Hope Foundation, improved eye care will be made available to the children living in slums and hospitals in Kolkata.
In 2020 HOPE is celebrating 21 years of life changing work. HOPE founder and Hon. Director Maureen Forrest’s commitment to the children and partners supporting HOPE remains resolute “We are delighted and grateful to have such wonderful people at Specsavers supporting our work. Their achievements during their short week in Kolkata were extraordinary, as has been the support they have received from the Irish public. These are the forgotten children and communities, born into a world of dire poverty. The gift of sight is truly life changing and enables them to go to school, to work and ultimately live independent lives”