December 12, 2024
We know that many donated items have a story. We know that people often donate devices they can’t bear to throw away so that the equipment can serve someone else and have a second life. We also know that assistive technology (AT) of all kinds can become an extension of a person and their personality—for example, Winston Churchill with his cane.
This is on my mind today for two reasons: 1) REquipment is temporarily closed to donations of durable medical equipment due to a lack of storage space, and 2) while browsing our online inventory, I ran across my father’s pocket magnifier.
It’s not, technically, the one he used, but it might as well be. Looking at that image in our online inventory, I remember how it had a convex glass that slid out with a smooth hand motion he’d repeat throughout the day and how it warmed in his pocket. I can feel the leather-like cover’s texture and recognize the finish’s wear around its edge. I imagine it was donated by someone grateful to have a meaningful way to avoid putting it in the trash. The previous owner must have carried this one in a pocket for years, as my father did.
We know the difficulty closing our doors to donations causes our REquipment community, but fear not. We will accept them again, as we did last time, because we will give away equipment and make room.
Also, we will still take your magnifiers! We are closed only to donations of durable medical equipment.
If you have an item we cannot currently take, another option is to find a local reuse program, such as a Council on Aging loan closet. Check out our Reuse Resources List on our website, which lists additional reuse programs in Massachusetts.
If you can’t find another program, you can also hold off and wait for us to reopen sometime this winter.
My dad was a painter. He’d whip out his magnifier to study art catalogs. Eventually, because of his macular degeneration, he needed a desktop CCTV device that he kept in his studio (until that did him no good). He kept painting through all of it. At the end of his life, his CCTV was filthy and paint-speckled.
DME and AT are often not just made of metal, glass, and plastic. We understand.
If you’d like to browse free magnifiers, check out our Vision category online. These items are best requested as you select a larger piece of equipment so we can deliver them together for the same $20 delivery fee. Otherwise, AT items can be picked up free (or mailed for $20).
Happy browsing!
– Eliza Anderson, REquipment Staff Editor
