Recycle For Sight
Minnesota Lions Vision Foundation
As part of our effort to support the Unused Eyeglass Program of the Minnesota Lions Vision Foundation, the Waconia Lions Club has established a collection point for unused glasses. If you no longer need your glasses, please consider donating them.
Why Donate Your Old Eyeglasses?
Globally, one child in four cannot see well enough to learn to read without eyeglasses. By age 40, approximately 90% of adults experience a decrease in their ability to read print and need eyeglasses. Many emerging countries lack the resources to manufacture quality lenses, and the cost of importing eyeglasses is far beyond the means of the average citizen. Millions fail to reach their economic, educational, and social potential without access to quality eyeglasses. The World Health Organization estimates that the eyesight of one-fourth of the world’s population can be improved through the use of corrective lenses. Unfortunately, a pair of glasses is both unaffordable and inaccessible for many. In developing countries, an eye exam can cost as much as one month of wages, with a single doctor may serve a community of hundreds of thousands of people.
How Are the Lions Helping?
Lions Clubs collect old, unwanted eyeglasses for redistribution to the poor in developing countries. Lions and other volunteers donate travel expenses, time, and talent to dispense recycled eyeglasses free of charge to individuals in developing nations. Some people walk 50 miles to receive free eyeglasses from the Lions. It costs fewer than 8 cents to provide glasses to a person in a developing nation.
Minnesota Lions members have now collected more than eight million pairs of eyeglasses. The Wisconsin Lions Foundation operates a regional facility in Rosholt, Wisconsin where Lions volunteers clean, repair, and classify the glasses by prescription. Glasses are then made available for medical mission work.
How Can You Help?
Simply bring your unused eyeglasses to our collection point at the Lakeview Clinic located at 424 State Highway 5 in Waconia. Please note the following:
- Donations Accepted
- Prescription eyeglasses with frames and lenses intact
- Non-prescription sunglasses with frames and lenses intact
- Reading glasses with frames and lenses intact
- Not Accepted
- Lenses without frames
- Frames without lenses
Used eyeglasses may also be dropped off at one of the many other collection locations throughout Minnesota. Please reference the Eyeglass Collection Locations list or call 1-866-88-SIGHT for more information. For regular updates regarding the program, visit the Minnesota Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center’s Facebook Page.
