Rumford Lions and EP Career Center Students Repair Donation Boxes

The Rumford Lions Club has refurbished all three of the outdoor eyeglass collection boxes and re-installed them to their prior locations. One is located in Rumford to the right of the old Fire Station, just in front of the cemetery, a second is located in Riverside on Willett Avenue in front of the Head Start Building and the third is in between the Grove Avenue Post Office and the Weaver Library in the center of the City. These collection boxes are former US Mailboxes that the Club obtained more than 10 years ago. Exposure to the weather had caused rust and damage which was weakening the integrity of the boxes.

"The boxes were removed last spring and delivered to the East Providence Vocational High School, where the metal was sandblasted of all rust and in some instances, new metal sheets were welded to replace areas that were more extensively weathered. The boxes were then repainted with a yellow, oven-cured paint and blue Lions logos were affixed to the front, left and right sides of each box, giving the boxes the Lions colors. With these repairs, the lives of these boxes are expected to be well in excess of 10 years," said Lions spokesman Charlie Tsonos.

This activity also provided a hands-on learning experience for a number of East Providence Vocational High School students and the Rumford Lions would also like to acknowledge the great repair job done by them under the supervision of the faculty.

Many Rumford Lions and others were involved in the pickup and re-delivery of the boxes as well as obtaining the logos and signs that were affixed to the boxes. The Lions, were Peter Barilla, Bill Kelly, Craig Trodson, Jason Fitterling and Tom Mello. Help was also received from others, including Ed Whalen and Jim McKivergan of Del’s Lemonade, who helped with the original pick up and recent delivery of the boxes, as well as Peter Barilla, Jr. for his expert advice.

"The cost of the refurbishment will be paid to the Vocational School by the Rumford Lions Club. The additional costs of the Lions decals are also covered by the Club. In all, the project cost more than $500.00 but the value provided by the 3,000 to 4,000 pairs of eyeglasses annually, which helps restore the sight of thousands of people worldwide, cannot be measured," said Tsonos.

Glasses donated to the Rumford Lions and Lions Clubs around the world are routinely cleaned and then delivered to a center that measures and tags the prescription strength of each lens. Later, teams of eye doctors and volunteers will take as many as 40,000 pairs of glasses on “Sight Missions” to foreign countries, where local residents will have their eyes tested and then be given a pair of glasses to correct their vision, all at no cost to the final recipients. Without these mission, many of these people would never receive vision screening or eyeglasses. US law prohibits dispensing of these glasses in the United States.

Rumford Lions may be contacted via their website: www.rumfordlions.org , or via US Mail at:
The Lions Club of Rumford, PO Box 4921, Rumford, RI 02916.