For the Oxford Lions Club, sight saving is the focus of it activities. Key sight saving efforts include providing funding for eye examinations and prescription eye glasses for residents of all ages in the Talawanda school district and for other needy adults in the western Butler county area.

In addition, the Club coordinates the collection of used eyeglasses from vision care centers and businesses in the Oxford, Hamilton and Middletown area for distribution worldwide. Recently, the Oxford Lions Club partnered with an international sight saving organization called Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH/International) to distribute collected eyeglasses.

Like the Lions Clubs, VOSH/International is a voluntary non-profit organization whose primary goal is to facilitate providing vision care worldwide to people who can neither afford nor obtain such care.

The VOSH-OHIO chapter, one on 33 chapters internationally, was established in 1987 in the basement of the Pandora Ohio United Methodist Church. The chapter is the sorting center for all of Ohio with more than 100,000 pairs of used eyeglasses being processed by volunteers annually.

Earlier this summer, Oxford Lions Club members delivered several thousand used eyeglasses to Morris Groman, president of the VOSH-OHIO Lay Team at the Pandora center for processing and preparation for overseas shipment to needy communities in various countries around the world.

Gorman explained that the processing of used eyeglasses includes prescreening for rejection due to breakage or lens damage, assessment of optic criteria, washing and cleansing, separation, and final packaging for air shipment to various underprivileged countries.

The Oxford Lions Club has recently redoubled its efforts in used eyeglass collection and has increased the number of collection boxes available throughout the community. For anyone who wishes to recycle old eyeglasses, collection boxes are can be found in Oxford at Family Vision Care, 127 Lynn Ave; Dr. Jack Bridge, 5225 Morning Sun Road; Oxford Opticians, 39 W. High St.; and at Miami Savings Bank, 475 McGuffey Ave.,

The Oxford Lions Club has more than 60 members and meets on the first and third Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Bystrom Room in the Miami University Shriver Center.

Lions clubs identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the Oxford Lions Club, please visit its website: http://oxfordoh.lionwap.org/

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with nearly 1.3 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in 205 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. For more information about Lions Clubs International, visit the Web site at www.lionsclubs.org.