Wisconsin Lions Foundation’s Eyeglass Recycling Center is at the forefront of providing eyeglasses for missions all around the world. On average, the Center receives over 1 million pairs of donated eyeglasses annually and ships over 200,000 eyeglasses to missions throughout the world. This is all done by a small group of dedicated staff who work with a network of Lions and volunteers.
Our staff is continuously looking at ways to progress and improve sustainability. Within the last year, our Center has transitioned from manual lensometers to automatic lensometers. This transition has allowed us to train the typical volunteer in about an hour compared to the 2-3 weeks that it previously took. We have also reduced our impact on landfills by partnering with other organizations that can utilize the eyeglass materials that we are unable to reuse.
This progress, while important and necessary to meet the growing needs of missions, has put a greater focus on the needs of the Center to remain sustainable. We need volunteers to help with the reading of eyeglasses. This can be done once for a few hours or repeatedly based on your availability. Many companies are offering volunteer time off to employees and this is a great use of that time. To schedule your time to volunteer, please reach out to our Project Director at kmueller@wlf.info.
The Center also needs additional automatic lensometers. The automatic lensometer has had a significant impact on the ability to accurately and efficiently read eyeglasses while reducing the time commitment involved in training staff and volunteers. However, the cost of one automatic lensometer is significant. We are running a campaign for this year’s Giving Tuesday on December 2nd to help raise funds towards more lensometers. Leading up to and including December 2nd, we will be collecting donations to buy additional lensometers for the Eyeglass Recycling Center. We are looking for both individual/company donations and people who would be willing to sponsor a match donation to help us make the most of this campaign by doubling the amount when someone donates. If you are interested in sponsoring a match donation, please reach out to our PR Director at ppotter@wlf.info.