Elizabeth Janney & Barbara Blachly
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

If you want to meet a friendly lion, talk to Bob Goff. A member of the Lions Club for 50 years, lately he’s gotten the Highland Springs community roaring with good nature.

Goff has encouraged his neighbors not to throw out their old eyeglasses; instead, he’s been collecting them for people around the world.

Worldwide problem
In January 2008, the World Health Organization reported that 153 million people suffer from uncorrected refractive errors (near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism)—the leading cause of blindness, second only to cataracts, and the main cause of low vision.

“The good news is that while refractive error is among the most common causes of blindness and visual impairment, it is also the easiest to ‘cure,’” according to the Community Eye Health Journal published by the  International Centre for Eye Health. “Refractive error can be simply diagnosed, measured, and corrected, and the provision of spectacles is an extremely cost-effective intervention, providing immediate correction of the problem.”

The only problem is that in developing countries—where the Journal reports the ratio of optometrists can be 1:600,000—people are often without access to eye care.

That’s where the Lions come in.

How miracles work
Since 1917, the Lions Club has been bringing people together to “answer the needs that challenge communities around the world.” And thanks to Helen Keller, one of those communities is the visually impaired.

In 1925 at the Lions International Convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, Keller gave a speech that has shaped the mission of the Lions Club’s 1.3 million members ever since: