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Donate your eclipse glasses to a good cause

Did you head home with several extra pairs of eclipse glasses?

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By
Jennifer Saylor
2 WAYS TO DONATE YOUR ECLIPSE GLASSES TO A GOOD CAUSE — Did you head home with several extra pairs of eclipse glasses?

If you're in Asheville or Marshall, you have easy options to help others by donating your glasses.

Asheville's two Diamond Brand locations are accepting used glasses, and giving people back a $5 coupon in return, good for any purchase of $25 or more.

Here's what the outfitter says on its website:

"Now that the event has passed, we're collecting your used eclipse glasses and donating them to Astronomers Without Borders and local schools. The glasses do not need to be those sold by Diamond Brand Outdoors.

Bring in your solar eclipse glasses by Monday, August 28, and we'll give you a coupon for $5 off any purchase of $25 or more. Astronomers Without Borders has announced a program to collect the used glasses and distribute them to schools in South America and parts of Asia, which will experience their own eclipses in 2019."

Diamond Brand has stores in downtown Asheville and at Parkway Center on Hendersonville Road.

Bring in your used glasses by Monday, August 28, 2017.

Another option is to give your glasses to a local woman who plans to take give them to Malawian welders who work without eye protection.

"My boyfriend Kyle thought of the idea," wrote Maddy McAllister in a message to News 13. She said she and Kyle often see people welding by the side of the road, without any form of eye protection.

"We realize that the eclipse glasses are by no means great for welding, but they're definitely a step up," McAllister wrote. "And with some ingenuity, the lenses can be taken out and re-rigged to regular sunglasses."

McAllister says she has been living in Malawi for the past five years operating an eco-community development project, and has now now moved back part-time to Asheville to establish a fair-trade goods company to provide opportunities to impoverished women and families in the village where she lived. YEWO Collective launches with a pop-up event this Saturday from 5-10 p.m. at Over Easy Cafe.

McAllister says she is also raising funds to build a community school in the village to provide free education for women who did not get the opportunity to learn. Click here to learn more or donate.

A donation box for eclipse glasses for welders will be at the downtown Asheville restaurant Over Easy and Madison Natural Foods in downtown Marshall until Monday, August 28.

Over Easy Cafe is located at 32 Broadway Street in downtown Asheville.

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