The Bancroft Lions Club has been busy helping people see better in developing nations.
Throughout the year they collect used eyeglasses, working with a group called Sight First, whose mission is to strengthen eye care systems in communities that need it, helping them fight blindness and vision loss.
We spoke with Lion’s Club member Laverne Stapely who says that they just finished sorting all the glasses, which they do about every 18 months.
“We’ve sorted about 2500 glasses and about 2000 pair of lenses” Said Stapely, “And then we sorted a number of different kinds of sunglasses and frames. A group of optometrists will sort the glasses and figure out what lenses are for what, and then eventually they end up in Ecuador and Costa Rica, overseas in Africa, you know, all kinds of places”
Anyone with glasses to donate can drop them off at Doctor Rawal or Guthrie’s office, or at Dairy Queen where Laverne works.
He says that the Lions club is also working on getting some donation boxes for the area that people would just be able to drop their glasses into.
Since 1990 Sight First has approved more than US$393 for over 1,456 projects in 118 countries.
