COLORADO LIONS USED EYEGLASS PROGRAM

 

 

· Sterling Lions has sorted 23,360 pair of processed glasses in the first half of the current fiscal year at their Tuesday afternoon sessions.   They still sort every week in the summer while the club is on vacation.

· The Sterling Correctional Facility is processing 1200 pair of eyeglasses per week if they have a full staff and are not shut down.  The prison was locked down for three weeks in November due to an assault on four guards by inmates.  This affected our November production.  Whenever there is turnover in inmates, we take samples of their work to a local Optometrist for confirmation of their readings.  Usually they are at a 90% accuracy rate or better.  If not, we do some additional training.

· We currently have 2 boxes of Gold and 10 boxes of Titanium frames being processed by Respecs in Los Angeles, CA.  Unfortunately, there are not a lot of recyclers for these frames, so it takes a long time for Respecs to process them and send us reimbursement.  I have contacted Respecs concerning a long time between receipt of glasses and payment.  I know they are still in business, but they don’t respond to phone calls or e-mails very well.  We also have Six more boxes of glasses to send them, but I am reluctant to send any more until we receive payment for what has been sent in 2018.

· Sterling can use hard eyeglass cases but doesn’t need any soft cases at this time.

· The company in Missouri that buys a limited amount of prescription sunglasses from us is still generating income for our program.  We receive $400 for each shipment of 5 boxes.  He will also purchase Ray-Ban prescription and sunglasses and cases as well as “paddle” bowed glasses.  We received an additional $2,537 for the new products in the last 6 months. That is worth the effort of looking for them.   

 

We do take used hearing aids in our collection boxes and either send them on to the Texas Lions Recycling Center or use them in the Sterling Lions Hearing Aid program.  LCI carries a Hearing Aid Recycling decal (IAD-19) that can be added to the eyeglass recycling box. 

 

If anyone knows of a mission group that wants to take glasses to developing countries, they can contact David Conley at 970-522-1319–home, 970-520-3840-cell, or djconley4313@gmail.com  for more information or an order form. Glasses are FREE and the only expense to the ordering party is shipping the glasses to them.  We almost always have enough stock on hand to fulfill any order.

 

Shipping glasses to the Sterling Lions Club:

Clubs can ship glasses directly to David Conley, 358 Bannock St, Sterling CO 80751. They can also bring them to the Golden Lions garage or a drop off location in Aurora – Michelle Ramsey at 26612 E. Calhoun Pl., 325-340-2856.  Jon Berquist can be contacted at 303-431-0469 for the Golden location.  Call the day before so they can arrange access  If someone is coming to Denver for an Eye Bank, Eye Foundation, etc meeting, call Jon and he’ll be glad to get any glasses you can bring.  John Spice IT Chair and State Webmaster is trying to get a website set up that will have all the locations in the State that eyeglasses can be dropped off.  I do not know all those locations, so each individual club should contact John to get him the information.  John is making progress on the drop off location website but still needs more clubs to respond.

 

Lion Dave is a member of the Sterling Lions Club.