- April 25, 2024
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After being challenged by Helen Keller in the 1920s, the international Lions Club chapters all over the world have seen to it to help their communities get 20/20 vision — Ormond Beach is no exception.
For Ormond Beach resident Sam Rivera, the Ormond Beach Lions Club's devotion to vision aid helped him get a pair of eyeglasses for his son, which made a difference.
Rivera’s 10-year-old son, Ashtian, was having trouble seeing during his summer school classes at Pathways Elementary. It has been a tough year for the family so far, since Rivera’s wife died this May. When Ashtian’s summer school teacher noticed he needed glasses, she told Rivera about reaching out the Ormond Beach Lions Club.
The Lions Club has been around Ormond Beach since 1954, though it was first started in 1917 in Chicago — the club recently celebrated their 100th anniversary.
Since the club was challenged by Helen Keller to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness” during the club’s annual convention in 1925, the Lions Clubs all over the world have been working to aid their community in that regard.
“Ever since then, our primary focus has been on eyesight,” Ormond Beach Lion John Kerr said.
He’s been part of the club for over five years, and he said the Lions Club aims to helps people, like Rivera and his son, who cannot afford vision screenings, eyeglasses or in some cases, eye surgery. They usually handle about 20-25 eyeglass cases a year and a couple for surgery. The club also has over a dozen eyeglass collection offices throughout different Optometries in Ormond and its surrounding areas.
One of the places they send people to for eyeglasses is For Eyes, located in Daytona. That's where Ashtian got his blue frames.
They’ve recently expanded the club’s reach to Holly Hill, and Kerr said they’re hoping to be able to reach more people that way —which is one of the reasons he joined in the first place.
“You get to help folks,” Kerr said. “I get a lot of joy out of that.”
Aside from aiding in vision health, the Ormond Beach Lions Club also helps locals with hearing problems, setting them up for testing and fittings for hearing aids, as well as conduct diabetes screenings throughout the year. The club also has an annual food drive, which gives bags of foods to students at Ormond Middle School and Seabreeze High School to ensure they have meals to eat over Spring Break.
In addition, the Lions Club awards two $1,000 scholarships to Seabreeze High School seniors.
Making sure that Ashtian can see better at school is a load off Rivera’s back. He said the glasses have already made a big difference and he’s thankful for the Lions Club’s help.
“I think it’s awesome that they have that program set up for kids and everything,” Rivera said. “I never knew about it. There’s a lot of people that probably don’t know about it.
