Eyedrop campaign exceeds all expectations after support of Idiliq foundation on the Costa

Tony Bryant

Mijas

Friday, 6 December 2024, 09:34

Around 3,000 pairs of glasses have been collected so far during the Eyedrop campaign, an initiative to supply underprivileged families in Uganda with spectacles. Launched by Mijas-based fundraisers Alan and Jenny Boardman, a couple well known for their charitable work along the coast, the campaign was also used to collect pencils, pens and children’s toothbrushes.

The couple first launched the campaign last year, when they used their winter holiday in The Gambia to deliver more than 3,000 pairs of used spectacles direct to several eye clinics in the country, which distributed the spectacles among those who need them most.

This year they have turned their focus to Uganda, which, according to Alan Boardman, “is a country with many problems and many poor people”.

“The price of a pair of glasses is beyond most of these people’s reach due to the country’s level of poverty. We have collected around 5,000 items, the majority of which are glasses, but stuff is still coming in, so we don't know yet the total breakdown,” he said

The couple launched the campaign on Facebook and in the press and they also put a box in 20 establishments along the coast that acted as drop-off points.

However, much to the Boardman’s delight, the initiative caught the attention of the Idiliq foundation, an association that offers support to needy groups and individuals on the Costa del Sol. Volunteers from the foundation set to work looking for opticians, businesses and organisations that could collaborate.

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Hernán Lara, ambassador of Idiliq, said, “This campaign has been directed at opticians in various towns such as Benalmádena, Mijas and Fuengirola and, in particular, in Linares (Jaén), where they have given us more than 2,000 pairs of glasses.”

Alan and Jenny Boardman will personally deliver all the items collected to Uganda’s most vulnerable areas in January during their well-earned winter holiday.