OLD SPECS COLLECTION

A BIG THANK YOU to those who gave away their unwanted specs at the D&D nite, although the number collected is still far below our target.  Please note that the collection does not stop here.  I can arrange to pick up the old specs from you at a time and place convenient to you.  Do not hesitate to contact me even though you have only one pair available for my collection.

If you know of members who have unwanted old specs to give away but have no access to computers or are not aware of this project, please help to pass a word to them.  Looking forward to your support ….Many thanks.

Ivy & Terence

Author: Ivy Low (HongKong)

Interests: Walking and small business.

59 thoughts on “OLD SPECS COLLECTION”

  2. Hi Robert,
    I really appreciate your support by making this special effort for this project. Thanks again. I hope to hit 100 before 23 Apr cos I’ll be away end Apr. If needed, I can be reached at LKYIVY@hotmail.com. Please let me know when you are ready. ivy

  3. Hi Terence,

    Are there Special Discounted Tickets for SHC members and their families interested in seeing the concert “Phantomn of the Opera ?

    Steven Chan

  4. Dear Ivy & Terence,

    I have collected 15 specs from Perth. More specs will be coming in from friends by this Sunday. My son Clement will bring the specs to Singapore next Monday before he goes to Bangkok next Wednesday for his uni exchange program. Clement will contact either of you when he reaches Singapore.

    Meanwhile I will continue the collection and send them to you before 23 April.

    Mary Lee from Perth

  5. You are a star, Mary. Thank you so much for the support. I’ll be giving you my contact details by seperate mail. Please keep up with the good work:)

    ivy

  6. I only have the pair that I am wearing and it almost broke two days ago. I walked into a glass shop wall and cut my left eyelid and bruised the eye socket. Now I look like a victim of spousal abuse. The optician managed to bend the leg (it’s the spectacle leg, Tim) back into position.

    Lesson learnt – what looks like a clear exit could actually be a painful obstacle. Take care when you walk…

  9. Ivy and myself target 100 pairs. I will organise to have them cleaned and power-labelled by an optician.

    I will then select one of the Thai villagers in Thailand, get an optician to do some eye tests, and then give the villagers a matching pair.

    SHC members are welcome to join the project and visit, once we have picked a date.

    I shall be coming to the Sunday 29 April gathering. If you have an unwanted pair, plse do bring it along.

    Thank you, on behalf of Ivy and Terence.

  10. Hi Ivy & Terence,

    Very surprised to find that you couldn’t get 100 pairs of old spects.

    Went to church this morning and I pass the word around about the spects.

    Quite a number are keen to contribute. Will see how many more I can collect next Sunday.

    This is a worthwhile project. We are supporting you all the way.

  11. Hi Rosalind,
    Thanks for the support. A friend of mine is also helping me to collect some old specs from her office. I think 100 should not be a problem. Probably got to work a little harder :)

  13. Hi Ivy,

    I have to date collected about 30 spectacles, with more pledges on the card through my social network. I will bring them along on Sunday, 29th at Botanical Gardens. However I will only be able to reach there after 5 pm.

    It would help if you could let me know the last day of collection as I have a member who would only meet her group of friends on the 26th.

    By the way, how do I recognise you from the D & D photographs? Oh sorry, for a moment I thought I was still at the D & D dance playing the Recognition Game!

    Robert & Kristy,
    98397578

    qsookee2@hotmail.com

  14. Great job! Robert. You’d lifted us a big step nearer to the target. How can I ever thank you for the support. I’d personally set the collection deadline on 23 Apr cos I’ve to be away for two weeks. I’m flexible till we reach the target. No chance to meet up with you on 29 Apr cos I’ve to be away. However, you may pass the old specs to Terence. I’m sure you can recognise his handsome face…just a warming up for the Recognition Game :) When I’m back from my trip after mid May, I’ll get in touch with you for the rest of the old specs, if there is any.

    If you’re still keen to know how I look like, here is a hint – there’re only two ladies wearing green in the D & D pictures. I’m the low profile one…happy searching ;) Kristy may be able to help cos I spoke to her while queuing for food.

  15. Hi Ivy,

    Yes, the lady in green; she is the dancing queen. Kristy says hello to you.

    How do we pass them over to you? We would deliver them to you if you are living near Bishan.

    Robert Quek

  16. Hi Ivy & Terence

    I have 3 pairs of old specs. Please let me know how to pass them to you. I am living near Causeway Point, Woodlands.

    Lisa Chew

  18. I have collected 50 pairs of old specs (40 from Perth and 10 from Singapore) and my son Tim will contact either Ivy or Terence to hand over the specs. I am waiting to collect another 20 pairs by 22 April.

    Mary Lee (from Perth)

  19. With Mary’s collection, yes, we’ll exceed target. If you still have some on hand, you may pass them to me or Terence now. I’m arranging to pick up some specs from Susan and Rosalind next week.

    Can you all see the power of unity and networking? Of course, it must come with sincerity and a kind heart, too. Thank you very much!

  22. When we play, we play hard; when we do our bit for charity, we do it with all our hearts.

    Givers and collectors, you have my standing ovation for the rest of the day !

  23. Update: Including those collected from the D+D nite, we have already collected about 110 pairs of specs for recycling. As far as I know, more are coming from Mary (Perth), Robert, Daniel and Lisa Chew (c/o Dolly). 29 Apr is another collection day at the Botanics. Please pass the specs to our popular friend, Terence. Thanks.

    Terence,

    Rosalind Lee & I are interested to visit the village in Chiangmai if the date you pick does not clash our schedule. We hope to extend a few more days for some inbound tours to the borders.

  25. Robert, you certainly have a huge network. I’m not sure if Terence has difficulty carrying 100 pairs of specs back. Will check it out with him. Many thanks for your effort.

  29. “My son Timothy will hand the specs to Terence by this weekend.” Hahaha, mummy mummy and not bad if at his age, tim ah liu has someone to adopt him.

    Btw, in enid blytin’s “famous 5”, timothy was a dog. But the timothy here (at least one) is indubitably a man.

  30. Dear Ivy,

    Timothy is trying to contact you as he could not reach Terence. I send an email to
    LKYIVY@hotmail.com. but the email got rejected. Please contact Tim as he has got 68 pair of specs with him. Thanks.

    Mary Lee (from Perth)

  32. After getting pecks from one Timothy you’re now getting specs from another Timothy, heeee, Dolly, seems like your life swivels round timothys so likely that yr beau at st james will be a timothy who will make you drink tea and more tea till you buay tahan & start poon bi bi and ask to be set free from all timothys……………

  33. So sorry, Mary, I hv not been very update on the comments cos I’m currently in HK. Will return to Sg mid May. I tot Terence has already gotten the specs from Tim. My thousand apologies…and thanks Dolly for coming to my rescue. I owe you one. Hope the specs are in your safe hands now. The email address is correct but not sure why it didn’t work. Perhaps try lkyivy@hotmail.com Btw, I didn’t get to receive any phone call from Tim. My phone has roaming service leh??? Dont know wot went wrong??? :(

  34. No worries, Ivy. I have emailed Tim to contact you via phone. I have not received any email from Dolly yet.

    Mary Lee (from Perth)

  35. Oh dear Mary, I did send you a email cc Terence on my contact# for this collection. I will resend this email to you again… I was actually wandering why I did not rec’d any reply from you and was abt to write to you….

    Or maybe you can write to me via dlgummy@hotmail.com.. Thanks… Dolly

  36. Thanks Dolly, I noticed there is another Mary Lee on the PC project, so you could have sent to her instead of me. Oops!

    Tim has confirmed that he managed to contact you and will meet you to hand over the specs.

    Mary Lee (from Perth)

  37. Mary,

    Thank you so much for the effort. I appreciate it. The specs will go a long way to giving Thai villagers a chance to see clearly during their day to day chores. Many taxi drivers cannot see clearly, near or far, as specs are expensive. See u soon.

    Terence Seah

  38. Terence,

    Let me know if you need more specs as I can get more from the Chung Hwa Association members in Perth and the people here are very compassionate. Take care and see u.

    Mary Lee (from Perth)

  39. Hi Mary,
    I had collected the specs from Tim today. Thanks.

    Hi Terence,
    Since I wont be attending this mth gathering, I shall keep these in my office store till we meet next time, ok??

  40. Ivy, thank you for being the Event organiser for the specs collection, and leading the project.

    Mary, PhengSok, Petera, Dolly and Robert, thank you too. You have made the collection a success. The collection has been very successful. My maid has started to clean the specs. There are 87 powered, 52 sunglasses, 30 frames. More coming in.

    I am planning a date to donate this, at a special project of Siriraj Hospital, which focus on nationwide eye care for the poor and needy. I don’t have a date yet, but I am thinking of Aug. But not fixed yet. Anyone thinking of coming to Bkk? I shall put this info on our SilverHairsClub website, for the info of all.

    I want to express my appreciation for your effort in the collection.

    Meantime, I cannot resist telling all of you 3 real stories. 3 weeks ago, I went to HuaHin (Thailand) for a swim with my son. There were waves on the beach, and at one stage, when the waves came in, I stood up, and everything was blurred. I lost my specs.

    2 Sundays ago, I went to Prachuab (Thailand) with my son. Sat on a banana boat, and when the boat took a turn, everybody fell, and I lost another pair of specs. Had to rush to the optician to get some contact lens, as I had to drive 160 km home.

    Yesterday, I was at Phetburi (Thailand), again on the beach. My last pair of specs fell on the beach and hit some large granite stones. Still useable, but both sides of the lens were chipped. Hmm, I have customers to visit on Monday.

    Now, I am waiting to collect my new pair in two weeks. It’s cheaper in Bangkok. Shall be on contact lens in the meantime.

    Guess, you may not believe the 3 incidents; but they are real incidents.

    Terence Seah

  41. To add on to Terence’s list of givers who have contributed to the success of this project, we have Rosalind Lee, Eileen Lee, Lisa Chew, Susan Chang and Andrew Yeung. Hope I have not missed out anyone. ThankYou…XieXie…KumSeah…TohSeah…TorChay

    Ivy

  42. There are still 4 pairs of old spects with me. One more to be collected on Sunday. Hope to be able to hand them over before I leave for Hanoi on 12th June.
    Roslind Lee

  44. Terence, I just realised we have this alert tool prompting us of the new comments. How clever.

    Just sms you on the specs collection. I have just arranged to pick up the specs from Ros this sunday or monday so that I can pass everything to you on 12 Jun, provided if I’m in sg.

    Ivy

  46. The final collection of used spectacles will be this Sunday Jun 24, 2007. Approx 240 pairs of specs have been collected, since the launch of this project. Most of the specs come from Singapore and Australia.

    Thank you to Ivy Low, for spearheading and leading this project. I also like to thank Rosalind Lee, Mary Tan, PhengSok, Daniel, Eileen Lee, Petera, Dolly, Susan, Lisa and Robert for helping collecting used spectacles.

    The specs will be cleaned, before being sent to Thailand, early July.

    I have scheduled Saturday, 28 July, morning for the specs to be handed over to Pracharat Eye Hospital, which is approx one hour west of Bangkok. This hospital will test and mark the used spectacles. Many old folks are unable to afford a pair of new spectacles, and have difficulties with their vision. This national project will help them see better.

    If you are coming to Bangkok, and are interested to join me for the handover to the Eye hospital, please let me know.

    No more collections for now. Thank you for this charity activity.

    Terence Seah

  47. Terence, maybe you shd seriously consider offering the glasses to gen songtea and mr toxin ahead of the villagers……without glasses they dont seem able to see eye to eye and how silly they’re trying to pull down the other’s under-pants….

  49. Obliged.

    They shd be more brothers than brothers bcos whatever they do or dont do will impact on the lives of tens of millions.

    They’re all above 45 so when you next see them, for a change, dont sip coffee & exchange crawlies but get them to join SHC. Here, even humchimpan & yowchakwai will become friends.

  50. Hi Ivy (if you are still in touch with us from HongKong),

    Thank you very much for leading the old specs collection. And thank everybody for making this project possible, even from as far as Perth.

    Last weekend, I delivered a total of 435 old specs to the Specs for recycling centre, at Wat Rai King, just over an hour from Bangkok. The specs are checked for their power, cleaned and distributed to provincial villagers who cannot afford new specs. I shall put up a few pictures, once I have uploaded them. Thank you.

    Meantime, there will be no old specs collection.

    Terence Seah

  51. Hi Terence

    Now that the 1st spec collection is over, do U hv any suggestion as 2 what we shall do wif those we hv now?

    Possible 2 hv 2nd spec collection in future? .

  52. Yew Kwong,

    I have not given this further thought. At least, we have experience how to organise such activity. More difficult than I originally thought, in terms of resources. A lot of cleaning work on the glasses and the boxes and the logistics work.

    The old specs collection is an excellent project, but I will likely hold it off for another 2 years, unless another SilverHairsClub member is organising one likewise.

    Terence

  53. Terence,
    I have been closely following up on SHC website since I got settled down three weeks ago. Wished I could join you all at Pulau Ubin and trip to Colmar. Have never missed Sg so much :(
    I knew the cleaning work is the difficult part after looking at the condition of the specs collected. But, this is inevitable. Perhaps, in future we could get volunteers from SHC to handle part of the process.
    Agree this is an excellent project and very meaningful too. A two-year break is about right for the next collection. I thank you for your leadership and time on this project despite your heavy travelling schedule. Do let me know if I can be of assistance in future projects. Take care.

  54. A great Community Project for a worthy cause, with a little bit of talk but a lot of hard, solid work and dedication.

    My hats off to you Terence & Ivy, and to those who hv contributed/helped collected the specs.

  57. hi ivy & terence,
    yes I apologized for not reading carefully. ok will send this lot to another friend who is collecting these specs for those living and working in rubber plantations in johor. no problem.

    tks ivy, for your info.

    cheers
    jeremy

  58. Jeremy. what’s there to apologise?

    In fact, yr act of benevolence has done SHC proud. No doubt, Ivy & Terence will be as pleased as the rest of us that we have in you a guy while ageing graciously wd still find the time & heart to do good and for charity.

    As if a joke, there’s this guy who proclaims to all & sundry that he’s doing a course to counsel old folks. Then he goes on holiday.

  59. Jeremy, Tim is rite. We are proud to hv you as part of us. Don’t be “kek ki” with us. We are very easy going people here. Terence must be glad to find another potential successor for Ivy in his next round of collection.

    Hope to meet up with you one day in sg or hk. We shd hv lots to share. Keep up with the good work.

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