If you no longer need your used glasses or sunglasses, please consider donating them to the Lions. Minnesota Lions can accept prescription eyeglasses (frames with lenses intact), non-prescription sunglasses, and reading glasses. (No lenses without frames or frames without lenses, please.)
Globally, one child in four cannot see well enough to learn to read without eyeglasses.
By age 40, 90% of adults experience a decrease in their ability to read print and need eyeglasses.
Many emerging countries lack the resources to manufacture quality lenses, and the cost of importing eyeglasses is far beyond the means of the average citizen.
Millions fail to reach their economic, educational, and social potential without access to quality eyeglasses.
The World Health Organization estimates that the eyesight of one-fourth of the world's population can be improved through the use of corrective lenses.
Unfortunately for many, a pair of glasses is both unaffordable and inaccessible. In developing countries, an eye exam costs as much as one month's wages, and a single doctor may serve a community of hundreds of thousands of people.
For 80 years, individual Lions clubs and districts have collected old, unwanted eyeglasses for redistribution to the poor in developing countries.
Lions and other volunteers donate travel expenses, time, and talent to dispense recycled eyeglasses free of charge to individuals in developing nations. Some people walk 50 miles to receive free eyeglasses from the Lions.
Minnesota Lions members have collected more than six million pairs of eyeglasses.
The Wisconsin Lions Foundation operates a regional facility in Rosholt, Wisconsin where Lions volunteers clean, repair, and classify the glasses by prescription. Glasses are then made available for medical mission work.
It costs fewer than 8 cents to provide glasses to a person in a developing nation.
Used eyeglasses may be taken to any Vision World or LensCrafters store in Minnesota. Collection boxes are also located at many other businesses. Please see Used Eyeglass & Hearing Aid Collection Locations or call 1-866-88-SIGHT for more information.