The main mission for the Lions deals with vision issues, whether it is disease of the eye, loss of vision, guide dogs or just the need of eyeglasses for people who cannot afford them. Lion Don Hassiak is the Brookfield Lion who collects donated glasses from collection boxes located at Town Hall, ShopRight , Danbury/New Fairfield Ladies Club and other places. This past week Lion Don shipped 4 cartoons, a total of 590 pairs of glasses, to one of the Lions recycling centers. There are 18 Lions recycling centers located worldwide. At these centers the donated, used, discarded and unwanted eyeglasses are transformed into perfectly usable eyewear and are given as gifts to the poor in the United States, Central/South America, Philippines, Asia and Africa. As the Lions have found out, demand knows no borders, people hunger for clear vision.
The Lions Club is the largest Service Organization in the World with over 1.4 million members in 45,000 Local clubs located in over 200 countries and territories. The Brookfield Lions support a number of local, regional and international causes including Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Pediatric/Adult Vision Screening, Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation, Eyeglasses for the Needy, Red Cross Blood Drives, Ability Beyond and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The Brookfield Lions meet twice monthly on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. For further information about the Brookfield Lions contact Membership Chair Cathy Nielson at cathynielsen@earthlink.net
