Recycle for Sight Program

The following is an article by columnist Bob Greene that appeared in the January 30, 2000 edition of the Chicago Tribune.

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AFTER YOU FINISH READING THIS COLUMN...

Wherever you may be reading these words, I'd like you to consider doing something as soon as you finish the last line.

Actually, today's column is a result of the where-in-the-world-are-you-reading-this exercise that appeared here recently. In an effort to measure the reach of the computer-screen version of newspapers, I asked those of you who were reading on your computers to e-mail me. I said that, based on your responses, I would eventually write some stories trying to make sense of what the computer world is doing and will do to the newspaper business.

I'm going to write those stories as soon as I get through reading all of your responses; your notes so far have arrived from all 50 of the United States, and from 27 other countries. The computer is changing this business in ways both potentially thrilling and potentially frightening (at least for those of us who work for newspapers), and I want to try to be certain that I understand the lessons of what you told me before I write my conclusions.

But -- knowing what I now know about all the places where you read these words -- I'd like you, when you've finished this column, to get up from where you're sitting and take a look around your home.

I'd like you to see if there are any pairs of eyeglasses that you no longer use.

Here's why:

Lions Clubs International has a program that I think is one of the most remarkable in the world -- and that does so much good. But it doesn't work unless people hear about it, and look for their old eyeglasses.

In many of the most impoverished nations on the globe, there are people who have never been able to see clearly. The reason is simple: They have never visited an eye doctor, and even if they had, they would never have been able to afford a pair of glasses.

So they go through their lives unable to see the world. Men, women and --especially sadly -- children, they are doomed not to be able to see properly, or to read. It's such an enormous tragedy, yet it seldom is reported on -- they're not bleeding, they're not limping, so there are no
headlines. They just can't see.

The Lions Clubs collect eyeglasses from people who no longer need them -- people whose lens prescriptions are outmoded, or who just have moved on to a more fashionable pair of frames. In the U.S., that's what often happens: Eyeglasses are a given for most people who need them, they can be ready in an hour, they are considered a fashion accessory.

The Lions Clubs collect the glasses, sort them by prescription strength, clean them, and then, through a network of volunteers, take them around the world to places where people never even dream of being seen by an eye doctor.

If you were ever to speak to one of the eye doctors who go on the Lions Clubs trips, or to one of the volunteers who accompany the doctors, their accounts might reduce you to tears. Stories about people walking 50 miles to cities where they have heard the Lions Clubs volunteers will be, of people sleeping in the streets for the chance to stand in line all day in the hopes of a pair of glasses; stories of mothers weeping in thanks after a young son or daughter puts on a pair of glasses, and for the first time in that child's life can see . . ..

Over the years, I have written about this several times; the first time I wrote about it, 20,000 of you sent glasses to the Lions Clubs. That makes for a lot of grateful people -- a lot of people who, because of you, are now able to see.

But that column was before the computer became such a powerful paperboy. I'm hoping that the combination of the Tribune's newsprint circulation, the circulation of the papers that carry this column in syndication, and the mercy of those of you who read these words on your computer screen will result in even more people being helped.

If you find an old pair of glasses in your house, a pair you don't need, you can get them to the Lions Clubs in any of three ways.

You can call the Lions Clubs at 1-800-747-4448, and you will be given instructions on where to send the glasses, and how to package them to protect them.

You can call any local Lions Club and they will tell you how to drop the glasses off with them.

You can take your glasses to any LensCrafters store; they will get the glasses to the Lions Clubs, and the Lions Clubs will get the glasses to the people who so desperately need them.

The Lions Clubs first dedicated themselves to helping blind and visually impaired people in 1925, after Helen Keller addressed their international convention.

If you can assist in continuing that devotion, they -- and I -- will deeply appreciate it. Thanks for reading. Please see if you can find some eyeglasses.