Unusual Christmas tree helps give gift of sight

Some of the people who need eyeglasses walk dozens of miles from their home in a Mexican village to get their first pair of glasses.

Grandparents get glasses that allow them to see their grandchild clearly for the first time. Others get glasses that will allow them to live independently or hold a job now that they can see properly. A child who needed glasses before may be able to catch up in school once they get glasses.

The Franklin Lion’s Club is asking you to clean out your junk drawers and attics and to donate any eyeglasses, sunglasses or hearing aides that you no longer need.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

For more than 50 years, the Franklin Lion’s Club has erected Christmas trees in Franklin for its Lions Recycle for Sight Program. Residents are encouraged to place eyeglasses and hearing aids that they no longer wear on the tree. Donations boxes are also set up at dozens of sites across Franklin and Whiteland.

Donations have been on the decline in recent years and organizers of the eyeglass tree would like to send almost double the amount of glasses to the effort than they have collected in the past few years.

About 200 eyeglasses were collected last year and the club’s goal is to collected between 300 and 400 eyeglasses this year, said Macie Martin, organizer of the eyeglass tree effort.

Indiana prison inmates will clean and sort the glasses by prescription. Lions Club members then will travel to Mexico in February where some of the country’s poorest residents will get eye exams and free glasses that match their prescription.

Eye exams in Mexico can often cost a month of wages or more and often there are not enough optometrists to serve all of the residents. Some people who need the eye exam and free glasses will walk miles to get what they need, Martin said.

“We can help in a situation where doctors are minimal and costs are high,” she said.

Club members are using social media and continuous marketing to reach their goal. They are also hoping that putting up the trees a little earlier than usual may lead to increased donations, Martin said.

Lion’s Club members across the world have made eyesight a priority since the early 1900s, when Helen Keller challenged the philanthropic club to take up helping others see as a main charity, Martin said.

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

The Franklin Lions Club has set up two trees where people can donate prescription, nonprescription and reading eyeglasses and sunglasses. Donations will be accepted until the first week of January.

  • Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin
  • Courthouse annex, 86 W. Court St., Franklin
  • Franklin Parks and Recreation, 396 Branigin Blvd.
  • Johnson Memorial Hospital, 1125 W. Jefferson St., Franklin.
  • Clark-Pleasant library, 530 Tracy Road, Whiteland
  • Franklin Active Adult Center, 160 E. Adams St.

[sc:pullout-text-end]