Seeing with the Heart: A Community’s Gift of Sight

When Ajitha Kymal, a volunteer with MA Center Michigan (MAC Michigan), heard about an upcoming eye health camp being conducted by Embracing the World in Kenya, she wondered how the community could help. Her simple idea — to host a Used Eyewear Donation Drive throughout October — turned into an inspiring act of collective compassion.

A soft, calm purple flyer titled “Give the Gift of Sight” soon went up at the center’s Ann Arbor location on Ann Arbor Saline Road, inviting everyone to donate gently used glasses. Within weeks, the response was overwhelming.

Fellow volunteer Shreeja Rucker extended the drive to her child’s school, Achieve Charter Academy, and the students eagerly joined in. Together, MAC Michigan and Achieve Charter Academy collected 96 pairs of used eyeglasses, with 63 contributed by the school community.

When Shreeja went to pick up the donations, school staff shared touching stories:

“The children came to drop off eyeglasses of all different sizes,” Mrs. Levack at the front desk said. “Some were curious, and some were just adorable handing over their little glasses. It became a beautiful lesson about how one person’s extra can become another person’s treasure.”

For the students, the experience went beyond giving — it was a lesson in empathy, gratitude, and sustainability. “This was a meaningful way to show kids how small actions can make a big difference,” Shreeja reflected. The drive also supported the school’s green initiative by encouraging the reuse and recycling of eyewear.

Although Ajitha couldn’t find a direct way to deliver the glasses to Kenya this time, the collection won’t go to waste. The gently used eyewear will be donated to a local Lions Club as part of their Recycle for Sight mission—ensuring that each pair helps someone, somewhere, see the world a little more clearly.

“Even if the glasses don’t travel across the world, they’ll still help someone see more clearly,” said Ajitha. “And that’s what truly matters.”

What began as a single volunteer’s idea blossomed into a collective act of kindness — connecting families, schools, and communities in the simple but powerful act of giving. Each pair of glasses now carries with it a story of care and connection, a small reminder that compassion doesn’t need borders.

When a community comes together with open hearts, even the smallest gestures — like parting with an old pair of glasses — can bring clarity, dignity, and hope to another person’s life.