Lions Club renews eyeglass donation effort with Food Pantry - NJ.com

Lions Club renews eyeglass donation effort with Food Pantry - NJ.com

After getting off to a successful start in 2015 in providing eyeglasses to the needy people served by the Flemington Area Food Pantry, the New Jersey Lions are at it again in 2016.

Alan Brewer, president of the New Jersey Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center in West Trenton, as well as a councilman in Flemington and an active member of the Flemington/Raritan Lions Club, has been spearheading the effort to get reader glasses, commonly available in drugstores, to as many people as possible.

"The idea was simple," Brewer said. "Our mission is to prevent blindness and to give the gift of sight to the less fortunate."

The food pantry seemed an ideal venue for distributing those glasses, Brewer said.

"It makes sense — if people can't afford food, they might not be able to afford eyeglasses," he said.

The glasses typically sell for $5 to $15 a pair in the store, Brewer said.

During the initial wave of distribution in 2015, the food pantry distributed 1,784 pairs of reading eyeglasses and 50 cases, all valued at a total of about $12,500, said Gary White, executive director of the food pantry. "Our clients were very happen to receive those eyeglasses," he said.

Thus far this year, the food pantry has given out an additional 87 pairs for a new total of 1,871.

And plenty more are now available, said Barbara Wingel, vice president of the board and volunteer coordinator at the food pantry.

At the food pantry located off Route 31 in Raritan Township, the Lions recently brought in a new shipment of glasses, so there are plenty available right now for the food pantry's registered clients, Wingel said.

Those getting these non-prescription glasses need to know their magnification levels when they come into the food pantry, she said.

They can look at different styles of glasses and pick the one they want off a tray, she added.

Most people wanted glasses in the magnification range between 2.25 and 2.75, she said. "We've had no complaints. We gave out 1,875 pairs and that made a lot of people happy."

The fall drop-off of the glasses was a convenient time because many clients will be coming in to get food for the holidays, including turkey and the trimmings for Thanksgiving, she said.

She praised the Lions for their generosity in donating the glasses and pointed out what a help they can be to the needy clients.

"If you can't see, there's a lot of things you can't do," she said.