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Email Address
info@sandiegolionsgiftsight.org -
Phone number
+1 760 405 7384
At San Diego Lions Gift of Sight, we educate, restore vision, and prevent blindness for individuals in need. This work is made possible by caring volunteers who donate their time, talent, and resources to deliver the “Gift of Sight.
Affiliated with Lions Clubs International, San Diego Lions Gift of Sight is a stand-alone non-profit organization headquartered at 659 Shanas Lane, Encinitas, CA 92024, United States. With financial support and generous donations of eye examination equipment and supplies, our dedicated volunteers carry out the mission by providing free vision screenings and recycled eyeglasses to those in need throughout Southern California and beyond.
People Rised
Seek Medical or Surgical Care
Provided eyeglasses
Doctor-led screenings each year
At SAN DIEGO LIONS GIFT OF SIGHT, our mission is to empower communities by fostering hope, providing essential resources, and creating opportunities for growth and success. We are dedicated to addressing critical needs through education, outreach, and innovative programs that promote resilience and well-being. Guided by compassion and a commitment to service, SAN DIEGO LIONS GIFT OF SIGHT works tirelessly to uplift individuals and families, ensuring they have the tools and support to build brighter, sustainable futures.
Our primary goals are to educate the public on vision related matters, to address the functional forms of visual impairment by providing eyeglasses closely matched to a screening refraction, and to assess for ocular health conditions that could lead to visual impairment, including blindness. Individuals with a medical and/or surgical need diagnosed by a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist are counseled and directed to seek care.
We conduct more than 30 doctor-led screenings each year in an area stretching east to west from Blythe to Oxnard, and south to San Diego. Five weekend-long screenings are conducted in Northern Mexico. Last fiscal year we screened 12,036 people, provided eyeglasses to 9,461, and advised more than 675 to seek medical or surgical care.
Still, more screenings are needed and we at California Lions Friends in Sight have an important role to play to provide them. We have an ongoing need to add new volunteers and to raise funds to achieve this goal.
Our teams of volunteers come from many different walks of life and while many are Lions Club members, everyone is welcome to share their time and talent for this wonderful cause. We are a dedicated group of people helping those in need to experience the gift of sight.
There are a variety of activities and positions at each screening for volunteers to choose and a team of experienced volunteers to help new arrivals get started. Volunteers guide patients between stations, operate automated testing instruments, assist doctors, help patients with eyeglass selection, eyeglasses inventory management, and help in the optician’s section where the patient’s “new” eyeglasses are dispensed.
Our events would not be possible without dedicated volunteers working before and after each screening. We collect, sort, clean, verify and categorize donated eyeglasses and operate our own optical edging lab. Other volunteers raise funds, produce public relations communications, maintain the vehicles and equipment, and organize eyeglasses and supplies needed for each screening.
