Pictured from left to right are: Marisa Dollbaum, Charles Pakula and Ginny O’Neill with more than 120 pairs of glasses donated to the Lions Club in Monroe by residents of the Town of Tuxedo. Provided photo.
Town of Tuxedo residents have donated more than 120 pairs of glasses to the Lions Club International Foundation with a location in Monroe.
Lions clubs serve communities locally and globally, giving hope and impacting lives through humanitarian service projects and grants.
The donated glasses are sorted to determine those that are usable or unusable, processed and placed in inventory for distribution to optical missions around the world.
Lions help to minimize landfill waste by supporting precious metal reclamation and scrap processing for damaged glasses that are unusable. Vision has been at the forefront of Lion’s service for more than a century.
Tuxedo Town Clerk Marisa Dollbaum and Ginny O’Neill, who is in charge of Adult Programming at the Tuxedo Park Library, hosted eyeglass collection boxes and dropped off the donations to the Lion’s president Charles H. Pakula, a man of many hats.
Pakula is also a founding member of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Orange County Commander of the American Legion, 70-year veteran of the Boy Scouts of America, Certified SCORE mentor for small business startups, past president and active member of the Rotary, member of the Knights of Pythias, volunteer at the Museum Village and active in the local food bank.
Pakula, who will be turning 80 years old this year, has embraced zoom technology to keep up with meetings during more restricted times ‘Although I much prefer the personal interaction and phone conversations.”
For more information about the Lions International organization or eyeglass collection go to: lionsclubs.org.
Local collection boxes are located in the Harriman Walmart, Plaza Optical Center of Monroe or the Empire Diner in Monroe.