Delaware County, Pennsylvania club sends dozens of donated glasses to Philippines
An unassuming drop box outside a pharmacy on Saxer Avenue in Springfield, Delaware County, is the first stop on a journey that ends with someone seeing clearly for the first time.
Every month, Larry Healy, president of the Springfield Lions Club, unlocks the box and retrieves dozens of donated eyeglasses. They're prescription glasses that are old to their original owners, but offer new hope for people in need overseas.
"I'm collecting eyeglasses for the Lions Club, which will clean, categorize, the frames, lenses and then they'll go to South America, Africa and poor countries where residents may not have all the eyecare that they should have," Healy said.
It's a local initiative that's part of a larger mission. In April 2025, Lions Clubs from Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties teamed up to ship approximately 50,000 pairs of glasses overseas.
"Glasses are expensive everywhere," Healy said. "Hopefully, they go to somebody that is going to see clearly for the first time in their lives."
The eyeglasses are cleaned and sorted at the New Jersey Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center in West Trenton before being shipped.
"The motto of the Lions is 'We serve,'" Healy said. "We're a service organization. We're worldwide."
For Healy, the cause is personal. His grandson was born with a hearing impairment, and that experience inspired him to give back.
"If somebody can benefit with seeing better, then even though I'll never meet that person, I take a lot of satisfaction that my club is helping people," he said.
Some of the donated glasses went to San Fabian, Philippines, where a gym was transformed into a pop-up eye clinic on Sept. 5. Dozens of people waited patiently to be matched with the right prescription.
"I lived here [in San Fabian] during my elementary days and then moved to the States," Cecilia Lazo, president of the Philadelphia Filipino-American Lions Club, who coordinated the distribution. "I'm coming over to give back to the community. I'm so glad everybody responded to the grassroots of the town."
One of those patients was Beth Fernandez, who makes a living sewing wigs.
"Perfect with my eyes," she said with a smile, in reference to her new glasses.
Fernandez said she can now see her work clearly and provide for her family more effectively.
"A big help to us," she said. "Very, very, thank you. Blessed."
From a simple drop box in Delaware County to faraway clinics in the Philippines, the donated glasses are not only improving vision. They are giving people a reason to hope.