Middletown Lions seeking public’s help to fund childhood eye screenings

MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Lions Club has announced the launch of ‘Through The Lens of Lionism – A Future In Focus’ Fundraising Campaign and is appealing to local communities for assistance.

The fundraising initiative will enable the Lions All-Volunteer Vision Screening Team — the ‘Knights of Sight’ — to continue providing free eye screenings to children in local school districts throughout Monmouth County.

The Middletown Lions Club, chartered in 1946, supports many causes in the community, working tirelessly to help those in need through initiatives that target food insecurity, eyesight preservation, hearing loss and improvement, the environment and youth education.

Since the founding of Lions International in 1917, Lions have been most closely-associated and identified with vision initiatives and programs which preserve eyesight and seek to eliminate preventable blindness. In fact, Helen Keller, the trailblazer and earliest advocate for those with no vision, challenged Lions to become ‘Knights Of The Blind.’ In 2009, the Middletown Lions Club created the ‘Knights of Sight,’ a specially-trained volunteer vision-screening team, to ensure that the future would be ‘in focus’ for children in the community.

Unfortunately, many children will at some point experience changes to their vision, but the problems often go undetected. Since inception of the program, the ‘Knights of Sight’ have completed approximately 12,000 eye screenings in school districts including Middletown, Hazlet, Union Beach, Keansburg, Holmdel, Red Bank, Little Silver, Matawan-Aberdeen, Shrewsbury, Rumson, Fair Haven, Monmouth Beach and Manasquan.

The addition of the School Nurse’s Vision Screening Program adds further impact to the numbers, in the range of an estimated 70,000. The screenings detect all types of vision problems, and any child with an issue is referred to an ophthalmologist. If a child cannot afford an eye examination or glasses, the club funds the need through partnerships withphysicians and providers. The team works in conjunction with school nurses, whofollowup with parents if there are vision issues.

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The Middletown Lions need financial assistance for the initiative to continue.

Cameras purchased in 2009 and 2010 are no longer viable, since parts are not available. The club needs to purchase new cameras — Welch Allyn Vision Screeners — which cost more than $10,000 each. In Middletown alone in 2022, the vision screening team tested 443 children. Thirty-two children were referred for further evaluation. One child, it was discovered, literally had no vision in the right eye. Noone realized the child was in trouble until the vision screening uncovered the problem.

Fortunately, the child was referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist.

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No child should have to suffer in silence, and every child fully deserves a ‘future in focus.’ Levels of giving include Visionary at $1,000, Luminary at $750, Leader at $500, Advocate at $250 and Supporter at $100.

Donations of any amount are appreciated and all giving levels include recognition on the Lions Club website, in a newsletter and on social media posts. Luminary Level Donors will be recognized in a press release announcing their gift which is widely distributed to local media. Visionary Level Donors will be recognized with a special award at a club meeting and will be memorialized in a press release with a dedicated photo opportunity from the award ceremony.

Donations can be made by check or through GoFundMe.

Donation checks should be made payable to the Middletown Lions Club Foundation, a 501C3 organization, registration #27-4749664, and sent to P.O. Box 75, Middletown, 07748 with a memo indicating ‘ThroughTheLensOf Lionism – A Future In Focus’ Campaign.

For more information, contact Lion President Beverly Bova Scarano at 908-896-1682. The website for the Middletown Lions Club is mlions.org.