Donate your eclipse glasses to kids in Latin America

The fun and excitement of the solar eclipse may fade away, but one Utah business is collecting used eclipse glasses to ship to children in the path of the next total eclipse.

Roger Sarkis runs Eclipse Glasses USA, a program to donate used certified eclipse glasses. Sarkis said the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Mastercard, universities, hospitals, and large U.S. cities including St. Louis reached out to ask about donating thousands of eclipse glasses no longer needed.

“‘We don’t want to throw these away, we want to do something with them,'” Sarkis said, of what everyone is expressing in their emails. “Which is really a cool thing to see.”

He plans to ship thousands of glasses to schools in Hawaii and Latin America who are in the next eclipse path in October. Sarkis said he reached out to the Hawaii Department of Education and plans to work with Astronomers Without Borders to assist underserved communities and students.

“As a teacher myself, I want students and adults to have the opportunity to look at this really amazing event,” he said.

Sarkis noted that they will only take certified glasses manufactured in the United States. That means the eclipse glasses cannot be made in China and need to include the American-based manufacturer business and address on the inside. There should also be an ISO logo stamped on the edge of the glasses.

The address to mail the glasses by August 1st is:

Eclipse Glasses USA
PO Box 50571
Provo, UT 84605

Or you can get in contact with Astronomers Without Borders at this web page .


(AP Photo/ Eric Gay)