During the month of September, the San Diego Miramar Lions Club joined hands with the Lions Optometric Vision Clinic (LOVC) donating several hundred eyeglasses, eyeglass cases, sunglasses, hearing aids, cell phones, and more to help support a joint mission of VISION providing repurposed eye glasses to those in need throughout the community. Specialized in the VISION mission, Lions Optometric Vision Clinic, located on Upas Street in downtown San Diego, has provided over 10,000 pairs of new and repurposed eye wear to patients in need. During the Labor Day Weekend and on one of the hottest days on record (100 degrees), SDMLC Lions came together to sort, count, box, and disseminate boxes and bags of donated eye wear during an early Saturday morning gathering.. For background, LOVC was created in 1963 as a service project, with the support of the local San Diego County Lions Clubs in California. LOVC was established to provide vision care to individuals in our community that could not otherwise afford adequate care. It has been the tireless effort and dedication of volunteers from the Lions Club and the San Diego County Optometric Society that have made this a successful project. The most modern optical instruments and professional diagnostic equipment available at the time was purchased through donations of Lions International Foundation, the San Diego County Optometric Society and Lions Clubs of District 4L6, as well as individual donors. The members of the San Diego County Optometric Society volunteer their professional services and time every week keeping the doors open Monday to Friday. Complete optometric care is available including examination for lenses, dispensing glasses, glaucoma and other eye health screenings, evaluation for low vision appliances and consulting services for other related vision problems (https://lionsvisionclinic.org/). San Diego Miramar Lions Club was happy to be a part of this VISION effort with LOVC by collecting eyewear for such a good cause. We would like to also thank JC Penney Carlsbad, JC Penney Westfield North County Fair, Miramar Dental Excellence, Ann’s Alterations and Dry Cleaning, La Jolla Presbyterian, White Sands Senior Care La Jolla,Dorothy of Clairmont, Fran Ashcroft, community, and all the Lions of the SDMLC Pride who gathered eye glasses in their respective work areas. We wrapped up this project on Tuesday, September 9, 2020, delivering 261 pairs of new and used eye glasses, 76 pairs of sunglasses, 225 eye glass cases, four hearing aids, three cell phones, two cell chargers, and one cell phone gift card – to the LOVC during the lunch hour. Good job Lions! Let’s keep giving the gift of sight! Thank you everyone – SDMLC
