Shoreline resident Donna Eggan may be a woman of small stature but she has a big heart.
An optician at Lens-crafters in Lynnwood, Eggan traveled to Mexico from Jan. 11 to Feb. 9 with 19 other Lenscrafters employees to make over 3,000 glasses for needy children who live near San Felipe, north of Mexico City.
“I went on the trip because I love helping people,” Eggan said.
Lenscrafters organized the mission to Mexico, with the help of Lions Club International. Usually, Lens-crafters helps the Lions Club collect glasses and then distributes them to needy people in other countries.
This mission, however, was different, Eggan said.
Doctors, lab workers and opticians shipped their equipment to San Felipe and set up a lab to make custom-made glasses for thousands of needy Mexican children.
“The reason is that we found there is far more need for children’s glasses than was being met through donations because kids break their glasses or wear them out,” Eggan said.
The group of volunteers gave eye exams to over 8,000 children, and of those children, 3,317 needed glasses made, she said.
Most of the frames and lenses were donated by frame and lens manufacturers and several Mexican optical students came to help the mission group.
School children were bused in to the clinic from as far as two-and-a-half hours away, Eggan said.
“We saw an average of 550 children a day,” Eggan said. “It really gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, to know we helped all these children to see better.”
The mission trip brought together doctors, opticians and lab workers from Lenscrafters outlets all over the country and Canada.
Eggan was the only participant from Washington that went on the trip, and she said she would do it again if offered the opportunity. She has already traveled to the Philippines, Chile and Guatemala through Lenscrafters’ mission program.
“I love the good feeling I get from helping others,” she said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
