Each year hundreds of Lions clubs around the world hold vision screenings, community education programs, eyeglass collections and other special projects in October as part of World Sight Day. 

Lions World Sight Day was created in 1998 to spotlight the importance of eradicating preventable blindness and improving sight. An increasing number of Lions clubs are using this occasion to collect eyeglasses, conduct vision and diabetes screenings and plan educational programs to inform their communities about the importance of sight and diseases such as diabetes that can impact sight. 

World Sight Day 2008 to be held in Arizona, USA
The 2008 international event will be held in Arizona October 15-17, 2008. Albert Brandel and Maureen Murphy will preside over the events. Lions in Arizona and New Mexico will hold vision screenings in the town of Window Rock on the Navajo reservation to test for glaucoma, diabetic eye diseases and other eye diseases, and provide glasses to those who need them. Lions are also planning a diabetes screening and screenings at the Lions Vision Center, both to be held in the Phoenix area, the capital of Arizona. Local and state dignitaries are expected to participate in the events.

Get Involved
Now is the time to plan your club's activities for Lions World Sight Day 2008. Lions are encouraged to plan events on Lions World Sight Day or sometime during the month of October to coincide with the event.

There are a number of resources that will help. For suggestions about what your club can do to mark Lions World Sight Day, download The Lions World Sight Day Activity Guide. To order new Lions Eye Health Program material, click here. For information about recycling eyeglasses, click here.

Get Involved
Is your club planning an activity? Activities that local clubs can do include:

• Partnering with local eye care professionals or organizations to conduct vision, glaucoma and cataract screenings
• Offering to work with local schools or preschools on vision screenings or providing information about eye health to students 
• Conducting a diabetes screening and awareness program in conjunction with a local
• Distributing Lions Eye Health Program material at a health fair, library or community center
• Launching or expanding a community-wide eyeglass recycling program

Exemplifying "We Serve"- Lions World Sight Day 2007
The 2007 international event was held in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Mahendra Amarasuriya presided over the events that will include cataract surgeries at the Lions Gift of Sight Hospital and the Sight First Hospital Hendala outside Colombo. A seminar on childhood blindness, a public meeting on the importance of preserving and restoring sight, a parade and other events marked the occasion, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of Lions clubs in Sri Lanka.