Used Eyeglass Program Committee Report July 2023 to June 2024
Submitted by Lion Dwight Steen, Chair
The 2023-24 year highlight for the Used Eyeglass Program has been establishing the Colorado Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center (COLERC) in Denver. COLERC has been made possible by the generous donation of warehouse space by a Denver Lion and the hard work of the ad hoc committee consisting of Lions John Spice (Golden), 1st VDG Carol Young (Arvada), Dave
Newman (Englewood), Fletcher Brown and Dwight Steen (Denver). The committee is very gratified by the recognition of COLERC by District Governor Dianne Christian with the presentation of the Governor’s Award accepted on behalf of the committee by Dwight Steen at the District 6C convention. The committee also thanks the Colorado Council for the plaque recognizing success presented to COLERC by CC Scott Hayward at the State Convention.
COLERC continues to receive more glasses than are being processed, which creates a storage problem. COLERC also continues to turn down orders for glasses because we do not have the inventory of processed glasses to fill those orders. The Committee is very grateful to those clubs that have volunteered. Many Clubs continue to volunteer regularly. COLERC has been reaching out to non-Lions organizations for volunteers. Several new entities are scheduled for sessions in July. COLERC encourages Lions to reach out to groups they may be affiliated with to increase the number of volunteers. As awareness among Lions increases, COLERC will be able to meet the challenge of making used eyeglasses available to the needy.
To expand storage space, COLERC has obtained permission from the building owners to place a 20-foot storage container in the parking area. If anyone has contacts with a container company that might be willing to donate or make a used container available at a good price, please get in touch with a member of the committee.
The Pueblo Lions continue to process glasses. In the fourth quarter, they delivered to COLERC 1,833 pairs of prescription glasses and 200 readers, bringing the total for the year to 5,787 pairs of prescription glasses and 400 readers. Thank you, Pueblo Lions!
The COLERC Committee looks forward to another challenging year in 2024-25. As the number of volunteers expand, COLERC needs more trainers. We try to have at least one trainer work with each new group during their first several sessions. Please get in touch with Dwight Steen at 303-653-8780 or Dwight.steen@gmail.com if you want to schedule a group or if you can provide training.