I have been a big fan of Halloween since I was a child. Dressing in a costume and walking in the dark from house-to-house with my sisters is a favorite memory from my childhood. But as a grown-up fitness professional teaching health lifestyle habits, I'm not really comfortable promoting anyone to go begging for candy and then overeating it too.
So, I began looking for a better way to celebrate the holiday - a new tradition that would be a way provide kids a way to learn to give to others while still getting excited about the prospect of receiving. After a little research, I found it! I've been collecting old, used eyeglasses to give to the needy all over the world through a program that turns “Fright Night” in to “Sight Night.” If you start now, you can be part of this event.
I wish you could see the picture that really caught my attention. It is of two grown men in a third world country hugging each other and smiling. They were both wearing glasses for the first time. One had on glasses that Matt Lauer wore in high school and the other had on a pair of Colin Powell's old glasses. They really reminded me how much I appreciate seeing every day when I put on my glasses.
It’s easy to do! If you shop at the thrift store for your costume, consider picking up an old pair of glasses to donate as well. Ask your friends, colleagues, students and neighbors for the old glasses that they can't use anymore. You can give them some warning now, so they can find them and ask their friends, too. Then in October, when you go out Trick-or-Treating with your kids or friends, go up to the door and ask for those old glasses and fill up your bag with goodies for others.
This is a way to give something very valuable, that you no longer need, your kids will never wear, but that someone else CAN really use them. And it won't cost you anything! For the official details about this program, see Lion's Club Sight Night.
The Lions Clubs are recognized worldwide for their service to the blind and visually impaired. This service began when Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become her "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness" during the association's 1925 international convention. You can read her inspiring speech.
Have a Happy Sight Night!
Alice Lockridge, MS Phys Ed