BEDFORD – Across our country, eyeglasses and hearing aid wearers have millions of old, unwanted eyeglasses and hearing aids stashed throughout their homes in drawers.
Lawrence County Lions Clubs have reached a new milestone recycling over 90,000 eyeglasses and 1,700 hearing aids.
Simply donating these old specs and aids to a local Lions Club can become an extraordinary way of recycling and, at the same time, greatly change the quality of life for a needy person.
These used eyeglasses are repaired and distributed at no cost by the Lions Club Collection Centers (eyeglasses) to help underprivileged people in need in many developing countries and the Lions Club Loaner Program (hearing aids) for repair and distribution to needy people living in Indiana.
The Bedford Lions Club started this collection project in 1980 and has collected 69,118 pairs of eyeglasses and 921 hearing aids, with all the other Lions Clubs in Lawrence County joining to help in the recycling effort.
The Bedford Noon Lions Club has collected 13,389 eyeglasses and 683 hearing aids since 2002.
The Mitchell Lions Club has collected a total of 6,023 pairs of eyeglasses and 75 hearing aids since 2006 and the Fayetteville Community Lions Club has collected a total of 1,950 pairs of eyeglasses and 39 hearing aids since 2010.
The Lions Clubs would like to thank all the businesses, churches, eye doctors, libraries, and organizations for supporting our ongoing collection project. The Lions could not have had such a successful project without their cooperation in placing the collection boxes at their locations for the community to drop off their used eyeglasses and hearing aids.
Officials would also like to thank everyone who donated these eyeglasses or hearing aids to support this recycling program and help many people with vision or hearing problems improve the quality of their lives.
There are now over 35 locations in the Lawrence County area where used eyeglasses and hearing aids can be dropped off, so please find one or give them to any Lion you know and help the Lions help people in need. These eyeglasses and hearing aids will be going to the Indiana Lions State Office Building in Indianapolis for recycling distribution to people in need.
2023 Lions Recycle Eyeglasses and Hearing Aids Collection Box Locations:
- Bedford American Legion Post #33 at 515 X Street
- IU Health Bedford Hospital at 2900 West 16th Street
- Crane Credit Union at 1201 James Avenue
- Jim Day’s Appliances at 1608 Williams Road
- Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance at 3155 John Williams Boulevard
- GM Bedford Castings Medical Dept. at 105 GM Drive
- Rope Optometry (Dr. Jim Sowders and Dr. Andrea Rope) at 1615 O Street
- Walmart Vision Center at 3200 John Williams Boulevard
- Lawrence County Courthouse at 916 15th Street
- Bedford Public Library at 1323 K Street
- Smoot Eye Care at 1515 K Street
- Atchison Eyecare at 1537 J Street
- Chase Bank at 1602 J Street
- Rural King at 1320 James Avenue
- Bedford Chamber of Commerce at 1116 16th Street
- Calvary Lutheran Church at 3705 Austin Drive
- Central Church of Christ at 1402 12th Street
- Englewood Baptist Church at 3118 Washington Avenue
- First Baptist Church at 1515 20th Street
- First Christian Church at 1101 15th Street
- First United Methodist Church at 1409 K Street
- Free Methodist Church at 640 R Street
- Hillcrest Christian Church at 1130 Hillcrest Road
