Vision Care for Homeless People is now registered for Gift Aid and we have joined Virgin Giving Money, our online fundraising partner. This enables you to make a donation easily and securely. Please support Vision Care for Homeless People and help vulnerable people to see.

Your support will help Vision Care for Homeless People to transform lives. You can add gift aid to your donation and we get paid a further 25% on your donation. Every £5 you raise or donate can pay for Vision Care for Homeless People to provide an eye examination and a pair of glasses for a homeless person.

Thank you for your time and support.

Andrew Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith, officially opened the charity’s new service at Shepherd’s Bush Market Broadway Centre this week, praising the dedication of the volunteers.

“This is an inspiring project and as a model can be rolled out across the country. Such a service is set to be in greater demand as our homeless population increases due to financial pressures,” he said.

The charity recently celebrated the 5,000th pair of glasses to be dispensed by one of its centres in London and Birmingham. Actively looking at other cities where there is a need for the service, the optometrist founder, Harinder Paul, explained:

“We provide a thorough eye examination and new glasses whenever they are needed, in an environment where homeless people feel comfortable. Sometimes we have picked up pathology which needs to be referred to hospital and have been able to make a dramatic difference in helping many people to engage more with society.”

Picture shows charity patron actor Ben Miles with Andrew Slaughter MP (right) cutting the ribbon to open the new Vision Care For Homeless People clinic. Photograph by Jeff Hubbard.

Working in conjunction with Vision Care for Homeless People, Crisis is seeking volunteer optometrists and dispensing opticians to donate a few hours of their time for this very worthwhile work.

“The volunteer lines are now open on the Crisis website and we are hoping that we will receive a lot of support from the optical profession. Last Christmas we saw 242 patients, many of whom had a desperate need for glasses. This is such a valuable part of getting some of the homeless back on track,” said VCHP Chair, Elaine Styles.

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*In addition, VCHP is seeking donations of new plastic and metal frames suitable for the Christmas glazing service. Please contact the charity on 020 8356 6532 or email will@vchp.org.uk

Lesley-Ann Murray, dressed as Wonder Woman and part of the ABDO Practical Examination Team, put fear to one side to raise in excess of £500.00 for the City charity – Vision Care for Homeless People. Descending 160 feet in three seconds, the fall felt like forever -

“I was absolutely terrified: shaking like a leaf and screaming, but I would certainly do it again. The views over the Thames were amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. The buzz afterwards was awesome – you certainly find your true self on the way down!” she said.

The Award of Charity, Company or Practice of the Year is for the organisation that has done the most to promote and expand optometry, or which has brought the benefits of optics to a wider audience.

I certainly think we bring the benefits of optics to a wider audience as we are helping to bring the benefits of optometry to some of the poorest people in our own community. Restoring somebody’s vision is one of the most rewarding experiences you could have, from supplying a myopic correction to a person who would effectively be considered blind without their correction to issuing a simple reading prescription so that somebody can read an application form. Getting people back on their feet and into accommodation and jobs is very important.

We are a UK charity which helps people here at home. Some practitioners may not have the opportunity or the money to give up two weeks to go abroad and work in foreign clinics but we encourage people to give a few hours to volunteer in one of our clinics.

Over a thousand hours a year of volunteering time is donated by optometrists and dispensing opticians to run our four current clinics.

It is a very rewarding experience helping your fellow human beings when they are at one of the lowest points of their life. The smile on their face when they see clearly again is priceless.