Hello friends! November is here and the busy holidays are on their way!! We have been working hard preparing the eyeglass inventories for our trip to Guatemala in March of 2025, and are happy to report that California and Illinois have completed the sortings for the year and both inventories are ready to go!
We just wanted to take a moment to recognize our amazing eyeglass donors and our volunteers, and friends and members of I Care International for helping us complete these very important tasks! I Care International could not do what we do without YOU 🙂
California Participation
Thank you goes out to the Pacific Beach High School in San Luis Obispo, California, for hosting the I Care sorting during their Day of Service event. ~2,000 glasses were washed by 44 students. San Luis de Tolosa Rotary members, Carl Dudley, Gay Spencer, Marti Lindholm and David Butcher also helped out at this event.
Paso Robles High School students worked last spring and this fall every Monday after school. Holly Naylor, Leigh Livick, Ann Parker, Jim Patterson and Judi Scott-Dewing worked with these students.
Additionally, Klaus Schumann and Mary Jane Adams continue to work behind the scenes preparing the glasses and the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa did a drive for children’s glasses and collected 135 pairs.
We thank the following organizations and individuals for the over 13,000 eyeglass donations in California.
Pacific Eye Care
Primary Eye Care
Templeton Lions Club
Santa Margarita Lions Club
David Eldridge
Atascadero Library
Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
Lions Club Eyeglass Distribution of Vallejo
Illinois Participation
Thank you goes out to the American Legion in Sheridan, Illinois and to Ortiz Eye & Associates in Morris, Illinois for the use of their facility during the multiple sorting events. Thanks to Kelly Davis and Dr. Julie Ensinger for doing a great job working with all the participating volunteers, including the 12 volunteer students from the National Honor Society at Morris High School. The students rotate on a monthly basis with six typically always attending. We also thank Jessie Gutierrez and Dr. Stephen Storey for all you do behind the scenes preparing and organizing the glasses.
We thank the following organizations and individuals for their eyeglass donations in 2024:
Dr. Carrie Sypherd
Judith Chasin and Julie Washburn from the Brookline Senior Center
Billy Bob O’Connor
Lincoln Women’s Club
Larry and Sue Chilton
Carol Elmore
Karen Korr
Kay Shaw
Dr. Jeffrey Yocum
Megan Borchers and LyondellBasell Industries
Nick Deluca and the Minooka Lions Club
Dr. John Conness
Linda Higgins
Kathy Ferko
We are also grateful for the many anonymous donations we have received. We apologize in advance if your name was omitted.