Logistics

Sight Station, a UK-based eyewear retailer and wholesaler with a philosophy that "fashionable eyewear should be for everyone," has donated 304 pairs of designer reading glasses to our reading relief project in eastern Chad. Shown below are some of these stylish glasses, complete with matching pouches.

Darfuri students in refugee camps in eastern Chad are receiving help from their peers a world away in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Hillel Foundation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Jewish student organization, held a bake sale in April to raise funds for Book Wish's reading relief project in Chad. Initiated by library and information science graduate student Jennifer McNaughton, the event brought in more than $100.

Dr. Walter Drill, an optometrist in private practice in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, has donated 246 pairs of eyeglasses and 1565 eyeglass cases for current and future Book Wish Foundation projects. Dr. Drill's donation comes in response to our call for reading glasses, published free of charge by the American Optometric Association in its newsletter AOA News. Thank you Dr. Drill for your generosity, and thank you AOA for helping us reach the optometric community!

Hippocrene Books, one of America’s foremost publishers of foreign-language reference books and ethnic cookbooks, has donated 75 of its popular English-Arabic/Arabic-English dictionaries to our reading relief project in the Bredjing, Treguine, and Gaga refugee camps in eastern Chad.

June 26 was a day for celebration in the Bredjing Refugee Camp in eastern Chad, as the Book Wish Foundation's first shipment of books from the Headway English course arrived. Despite serious security incidents in the area, which had paralyzed transportation, our partners on the ground, CORD, safely delivered the 269 books to the grateful Darfuris, who place so much hope in learning English.

PRVAIL (Partners in Restoring Vision and Improving Lives), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit specializing in supplying reading glasses for other groups' vision care programs, has given the Book Wish Foundation 302 pairs of reading glasses to send to Darfur refugees and villagers in eastern Chad. This is the largest donation of reading glasses we have received, and significantly advances our reading relief mission.

Yes, you read the title right, 278 pairs of reading glasses! Smart Eyes, LLC is the company that has just supplied more than half the needs of a refugee camp, with the largest donation of reading glasses so far to our Chad/Darfur project.

What's particularly impressive about this donation is that Smart Eyes isn't a giant optical chain, it's a home-based business with a giant heart.

Despite an uncertain and deteriorating security situation, with Chadian troops passing through their base of operations in Hadjer Hadid, our on-the-ground partner Anne Goddard (CORD) and her team managed to celebrate the Day of the African Child (June 16) with Darfur refugees in Treguine and Bredjing Camps, and villagers from the surrounding communities. Their determination to secure a future for the children through education, amidst the crisis, is an inspiration.

ClearVision Optical, one of the world's leading wholesale distributors of prescription eyewear and sunwear, has donated 100 designer cases to protect reading glasses being sent to Darfur refugee camps and villages in eastern Chad. By keeping the glasses in good reading condition, this donation will result in many additional hours of education and enjoyment.

We receive many donated reading glasses without cases, and have been concerned about protecting them from the harsh desert environment into which they are headed. Astucci, a company that produces custom optical cases, heard our concern and has responded in a very big way.