Maryville optician donating eclipse glasses to schools

TOM PINNEY/DAILY FORUM
Kellan Farnan, an employee at Maryville’s Spec Shoppe, poses with the office’s supply of solar eclipse glasses. Spec Shoppe has donated 1,000 pairs of the glasses to rural schools on the east and south side of the county so that the students in those districts can view the August 21 celestial event safely.

With school set to begin four days before the solar eclipse in August, some area schools don’t have to worry about where they will get glasses to view the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Spec Shoppe in Maryville has announced they will be donating 1,000 pairs of solar eclipse glasses to the students in the Northeast Nodaway, South Nodaway, Jefferson, and Stanberry school districts.

Jeff Farnan, owner of the Spec Shoppe and a member of the Jefferson C-123 Board of Education, said he was proud to donate the glasses to the districts.

“All of the pairs we sell are ISO certified, meaning that they are properly put together and tested to make sure they protect against the sun’s harmful rays,” Farnan said. “We’ve heard that some places have glasses that aren’t ISO certified, and we want to make sure everyone knows to look out for fakes.

“We started at 1,000 pairs for the districts out in the rural parts of the county, and after committing to Jefferson, Ravenwood, Stanberry, and Barnard, we ran out. We wanted to get more to donate, but the delivery date of that second shipment would have been a few days after the eclipse.”

The glasses cost the Spec Shoppe 50 cents each, equaling out to a $500 donation to area schools by the shop. Farnan said he received several hundred extra pairs which he is selling to patrons. The Spec Shoppe is one of several area optometry offices, including Powell Optometry and Losh Optometry, as well as the Maryville Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart, selling the glasses.

The glasses themselves are interesting, Farnan said.

“They block out 100 percent of ultraviolet rays, 100 percent of infrared rays, and 99.99 percent of intense visible light rays,” Farnan explained. “We put them on in the store, and we couldn’t see the lightbulbs, but we could see the sun.

“These glasses are made specifically for viewing the sun. You put them on and it just looks like a black wall, but you can see the sun through them.”

With this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity looming, Farnan said it was important to be careful.

“You want to make sure your eyes are protected; you don’t want to do any lasting damage to your eyes,” Farnan said. “Retinal damage is possible, and you could go blind.

“You already can’t look at the sun directly for that long.

“It’s safe to look at the total eclipse with the naked eye, but you want to have solar glasses any other point in time. Sunglasses won’t do the trick, either, it has to be the solar glasses.”