DX in Action for Vision Aid Overseas
December 2008: DX (www.thedx.co.uk) was delighted when Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) (www.vao.org.uk) recognised their contribution and commitment to the charity’s work over the past 11 years when presented with the charity’s inaugural Trustees Annual Award. VAO help about 40,000 patients in the developing world each year, providing eye examinations and dispensing second hand spectacles collected from opticians throughout the UK, as well as training doctors and nurses in eye care skills and establishing optical workshops so spectacles can be made to prescription locally.
DX collect over 1 million pairs of spectacles annually for delivery to VAO, where the glasses are sorted to remove unsuitable donations before being sent to local prisons. The prisoners have been trained to clean and grade spectacles ready for dispensing. VAO is currently working in 8 countries in Africa as well as in India and has worked in 14 other countries across the world. DX donates its collection services, as well as sponsor the charity’s annual report to ensure that VAO can concentrate its funds directly on the projects it supports.
The award was presented to DX by Felicity Harding Chairman of VAO at their Gatwick Service Centre, close to the VAO offices where the glasses are delivered. “VAO is grateful to DX for their ongoing support and commitment to our cause. This award is a token of our appreciation to DX and recognition for all the hard work of the DX staff over the past 11 years.”
John Coghlan, CEO who accepted the award on behalf of DX said “We are delighted that we can offer this support to the valuable work that VAO undertakes and look forward to continuing our work with the charity in the future. I would like to extend my thanks to the DX staff that manage these valuable collections and deliveries on the company’s behalf.”
Who is VAO?
• VAO is a charity that sends teams of professionally qualified optometrists and dispensing opticians abroad to establish clinics, provide eye tests and dispense spectacles.