HONOLULU – The Hawaii Lions Clubs are sponsoring a “Helping Children See” event to be held this Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Palama Settlement Dining Hall at 810 North Vineyard Blvd in Kalihi.
The concept is to ensure that every child in Hawaii that needs a pair of glasses gets a pair of glasses which gives them the ability to see or see better. Every financially need-based child with impaired vision will receive the necessary treatment.
Eye doctors will be on hand to provide sight screenings for the children along with members of the Lions Clubs assisting with paperwork and vision screening. This first step is to gather data that the Lions will utilize to garner funding to provide the eyeglasses and follow up care as needed.
Dr. Roger Ede, O.D. said, “Up to 10% of pre-school and 15% of school aged children have undetected vision problems and when left untreated it can result in permanent loss of vision and other elated issues. Children don’t usually complain with symptoms so a program like this is very much needed to ensure we protect them and help them. The Lions program will utilize state of the art testing equipment for professional eye exams and eyeglasses will be provided at no charge thanks to a grant program from the Hawaii Lions Foundation with support from local optical labs.”
It’s a fairly big undertaking, but the Lions are very confident they can succeed in providing the service to help the keiki. “The Hawaii Lions have identified issues and problems in our local community for over 90 years and have always come up with volunteer based solutions that have provided great benefit to the community”, said 1st Vice District Governor for District 50 Hawaii Lions Clubs, Jim Bryan. “No child in Hawaii should go without eye care or corrective lenses, regardless of the situation they are in. The entire purpose of the “Helping Children See” program is simple – if a child needs glasses they will get glasses and we will take care of the details to help them and their families – no matter what the circumstance.”
The gift of sight might be the best holiday gift a child can receive this year – so we encourage all families with children that need vision assistance to come to this event.
Helping Children See Event – Free Vision Screening Event
Friday, December 20, 2013
Palama Settlement Dining Hall
4:00 to 6:00 p.m
There is no charge – children and parents/guardians are asked to be there between 4:00 and 6:00pm.
For additional Information, please contact Lion Nicole Akizuki, Executive Director Hawaii Lions Foundation at 808 383-7206 or via email at: HawaiiLionsFDN@gmail.com
Partial funding for this pilot project was made possible by the Weinberg Friends Program, the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc. as a part of a service project led by the Kalakaua Lions Club.