The Hamilton County Lions Sight Services group meets the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. inside the Red Bank Lions Club headquarters to sort donated eyeglasses to send overseas.
The club buys new eyeglasses for local people in need too. Group vice president Charles Peek said Sight Services spends at least $350 per month to buy new eyeglasses for the local indigent.
“Children don’t deserve to fail school because they can’t see,” he said. “We buy brand new glasses for students around here.”
Local low-income applicants in need of eyeglasses can go to the Medical Mall at the Starbucks on Erlanger’s downtown campus every second Wednesday of the month from 8-9 a.m. to apply for eyeglasses.
“Each club has an assigned month since there are 12 clubs in Hamilton County,” said Sight Services treasurer Dennis Doebler. “The club takes applications and mails them to the Sight Services president. He then in turn sends them to the Lions Club where the applicant lives. The Lion member goes to that home to see if they meet the guidelines.”
Sight Services seeks to help the disabled, out of work, those in poverty and those who were impacted by the local tornadoes, according to Peek.
Doebler said in 2011 Hamilton County Lions Sight Services provided approximately 200 pairs of glasses at a cost of $15 per applicant. He said the prescription is not provided, although the individual Lions Club may pay for it after approval by the club.
“Our main source of income is donations from the 12 Lions Clubs of Hamilton County and collection of used eyeglasses,” said Doebler. “We usually do not ask for outside help, but we have seen a large increase in the need for eyeglasses the last couple of years. All donations go to the cause. One hundred percent of our income goes to buying eyeglasses.”
He said all Sight Services volunteers are local Lions Club members that donate their time.
Hamilton County Lions Sight Service Association is a 501(c)3 organization that began in 1960 to provide eyeglasses for the indigent. It was organized by the Lions Clubs in Hamilton County to prevent some clubs from being more burdened than others. The association contracts with a couple of eyeglass companies to stretch its fundraising dollars.
“The sole purpose [of Hamilton County Lions Sight Services] is to furnish eyeglasses to people that can’t afford them,” said Peek. “We send out 3,000 pairs of eyeglasses per month. We’ve got collection boxes in every local bank. Goodwill has eyeglass collection boxes for us too.”
Donated eyeglasses go to Roanoke, Va., to be reconditioned and are sent back with the prescription written on the bags. The gently used eyeglasses go to people in need in South America, Africa and Haiti.