 Since January 1, 2019 the Mt. Vernon Lions Club has collected over 500 pairs glasses! The Mt. Vernon Lions Club has been participating in the Lions Recycle for Sight used eyeglasses collection program and would like to encourage community members to continue donating their used eyeglasses. The Collection box is located at Mt. Vernon Bank located at 206 1st St SW, Mount Vernon, Iowa 52314.
“We need everyone to donate their old glasses,” said Paul Fugate Lions Club Service Chair. “In most developing countries, eye care is either not affordable or inaccessible. An eye exam can cost as much as one month’s wages, and a single eye doctor may serve a community of hundreds of thousands of people. And for many, poor eyesight that is left uncorrected can lead to unemployment for adults and a child’s inability to attend school. By taking the time to give us your glasses, you will help improve the life of someone in need.” The donated eyeglasses will be shipped to the Midwest Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center in Rosholt, Wisconsin – home of the Wisconsin Lions Camp – where they will be sorted, cleaned, categorized by prescription and prepared for distribution by Lions and other groups to third world countries.
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 The Mt. Vernon Lions Club donated $1,260 to the Mt. Vernon Community School Districts Kids in Need.
Kids in Need is a fund that is maintained by donations to help children and families of Mount Vernon. They help families with food, lunch money, housing, clothing, gas, Christmas gifts and much much more! They also fund the Mustang Snack Pack. This is a program that gives in-need children a sack of non perishable items to take home over the weekend and on holiday breaks. The Lions Club always raises the money for Kids in need through their annual Christmas Party held in early December. The Lions club has been donating to Kids in Need for many years and will continue to donate to this programs for many years!  The Mt. Vernon Lions Club on November 7 and 8 screened 142 children through the Iowa Kidsight program.
Iowa KidSight is a joint project of the Lions Clubs of Iowa and the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, dedicated to enhancing the early detection and treatment of vision impairments in young children (target population 6 months of age through kindergarten) in Iowa communities through screening and public education at no cost to the parents of children. The Kidisight program has been around for almost 20 years. Since 2010 Mt. Vernon has been screening children in both Mt. Vernon and Lisbon. Between the two communities over 800 children have been screened and 88 have been detected for having a vision problem. The first few years of a child’s life are critical in the development of good vision. These problems are not always evident. Each day that eye problems go undetected and untreated, a child’s vision may deteriorate to the point of irreversibility. The earlier these conditions are detected, the more easily and successfully they can be treated. With visual learning being so a major factor in a young child’s early development it is crucial that he or she have 20/20 vision! The Mt. Vernon Lions Club looks forward to continuing this project for many years!!! |