Lions, Rotary team up to bring Sight Night into focus

Halloween in Gonzales this year will not just be known as “fright night,” but also “Sight Night.”

The Gonzales Noon Lions Club and Rotary Club of Gonzales will partner with Gonzales ISD schools in a service project imbued with vision — literally.

When GISD pre-K through fifth grade students trick-or-treat on Monday, Oct. 31, they will be carrying with them an additional bag to collect used eyeglasses from local residents, including complete pairs of prescription eyeglasses of all shapes and sizes, for adults and children.

The eyewear will be brought back to Lions Club volunteers to be recycled and then hand delivered to those in need around the world. In some cases, recipients of these glasses are able to see clearly for the first time in their lives! Millions of glasses have been recycled and redistributed by thousands of volunteers during the past several years and now Sight Night is being brought back in Gonzales.

“Having the kids participate brings the fun out in everyone during Sight Night,” said Vince Ortiz, president of the Rotary Club of Gonzales.

onzales Noon Lions Club President Garen Reese said,“It's a really easy project that can help a lot of people, because so many friends and neighbors have eyeglasses that they don't use anymore.”

The Lions Club has long been champions for the blind and visually impaired, having committed to this mission after Helen Keller challenged members to become her “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness” during the 1925 Lions Club International convention in Cedar Point, Ohio.

Community members who are unable to participate in Sight Night during Halloween evening can recycle eyeglasses at Dr. Gary Gage, Personal Impressions, Breitschopf-Cooper Realty or Robert Bland, Attorney At Law. Lions will continuously work towards sight programs aimed at preventable blindness.

Once collected, Lions will deliver the used eyeglasses to Texas Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center, a 501(c)(3) foundation of the Lions of Texas. With the support of the Lions International Foundation, TLERC recycles eyeglasses for use in Texas, the United States and around the world.

The mission of the Texas Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center is fourfold. 

• TLERC provides used eyeglasses to Lions and other group missions providing vision screening and assistance in developing countries. Recycled glasses are supplied only under the guidelines of Lions International Eyeglass Recycling Center policy and procedures. They only ship domestically. 

• TLERC provides training to place recycled glasses on people in need, finishing lab technician training, pedia-vision training, basic refractive technician training and basic optician training. 

• TLERC provides the services of its finishing lab to manufacture glasses for the children of Texas and New Mexico through the various Lions Clubs. 

• TLERC coordinates missions to rural areas of Texas to provide glasses for the Texas school children.