The De Grendel Lions Club started off its year launching one of its most important projects for 2026 – Project Vision.
It said through this project its mission is to see how it can assist sight-impaired people to improve their vision, something that will also require the buy-in of the local community.
Project Vision, one of the eight pillars of service of the Lions Club International, aims to collect unused spectacles, which are often found in households gathering dust, as the owners do not want to get rid of it.
Instead of taking up space, the club would like the community to support its drive by dropping unwanted spectacles in a special Lions Brightsight collection box, located at the Bothasig and Edgemead Libraries, said club member Jacques Mostert.
“Please note that damaged or broken spectacles cannot be used as they will not be repaired, so well loved ones will fit the bill,” he said.
Mostert said club members would collect the donated spectacles and ship it off to Lions Brightsight, a Lions Multiple District 410 project, for assessment and use. Lions Brightsight provides corrective spectacles to people in need throughout South Africa as well as neighbouring countries.
Since its inception in July 1978, thousands of spectacles have been distributed to people, bringing smiles to the faces of people from all over the country. Without the help of Lions Clubs and Lions Brightsight so many would have gone through life with impaired vision, Mostert said.
The objectives of Lions Brightsight is to receive prescriptions from Lions Clubs, provincial hospitals, optometric clinics and various other organisations to process these scripts at low cost, using new and pre-owned frames that are in excellent condition, fitted with new prescription lenses.
Glenda Hon, Lions president, thanked the heads of both libraries for allowing De Grendel Lions Club to place the collection boxes in the respective libraries and their willingness to support Project Vision.
