Russellville NHS students helps process donated eyeglasses

The world will see a little clearer thanks to some Russellville High School students.

The students, who are members of the Russellville branch of the National Honor Society, visited a recycling center Tuesday to help process donations of eyeglasses that were collected by the Missouri Lions Club.

Volunteers began by sorting glasses into boxes based on type. Looking at the inside of the frame, the students determined if the glasses were readers, pediatric, special frames, prescription sunglasses, non-prescription sunglasses, prescription glasses, gold-plated, other frames or unmarked. Some broken pairs were sorted into a box labeled "scrap metal."

There were some interesting pairs in each box. One pair of glasses looked like a set of frog legs. There was a set of prescription goggles in another box. One set of frames even looked handmade.

Sorted glasses then went to be cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner. Students placed the glasses in a metal tray a bit like a deep fryer and set the tray in the box-shaped device, secured the lid and started the machine. After seven minutes of a whirring buzz and about 109 degrees of heat, students took the tray of glasses out, gave them a rinse and carried them over to a table.

Junior Allie Steenbergen sat with some friends, wiping off glasses with orange microfiber towels.

Steenbergen and other NHS members have been able to serve in a variety of ways this year -- United Way's Day of Caring, Special Olympics, wreath-laying at the cemetery and wrapping Christmas gifts -- but Steenbergen said her favorite was helping with Special Olympics.

She placed the glasses in the plastic crates, which were carried to a group of students sitting at a lensometer. Junior Hallee Stewart placed the glasses in the device, then locked them in place and pressed a button. The machine began moving the glasses side to side as it read the prescription in each lens. It then spit out a receipt bearing the prescription numbers.

Stewart said she felt like she was sitting at the desk of an optometrist's office with no patients for the day. She reached for another pair of glasses.

Stewart then passed the completed glasses and receipt to the other half of the team, senior Kourtney Brautigam.

A negative prescription indicated nearsighted glasses, and "add" indicates bifocals. Brautigam put them in plastic bags and placed them in the appropriate box.

The glasses were labeled "Ready for distribution" to head to various organizations and churches that take them on mission trips to Central America or distribute them domestically. During COVID-19, many groups began handing them out at homeless shelters, said Jeff Hilke, who heads up the glasses recycling operation, and several of those projects have continued.

Hilke said people used to have the misconception glasses couldn't be recycled in the U.S., but that's been "debunked."

He said it's also cheaper to help people here at home than shipping glasses overseas.

The recycling center doesn't give out individual pairs of glasses, Hilke said, but instead sends them to organizations that take care of the distribution.

The current building used for the glasses recycling program used to belong to the Cedar City Lions Club. But when it decided to close, Hilke said, the Heart of Missouri Lions approached them with the idea of donating it for the glasses recycling program. Hilke said the program is also in the process of starting a 501(c)(3) so they can use donations to help with the upkeep of the building and shipping of glasses.

"The Cole County Health Department had let us use a room, and we were limited to the times that we could use that room because we didn't want to interfere with the working of the health department," he said. "And we still have that room there, but with this facility, we can use this anytime of the day or night. So we have been able to start having volunteers come over more frequently."

Hilke said he's often asked how many pairs of glasses they have to process, and everyone has a different estimate, but he would guess around 500,000.

However, there has been a bit of a backlog because of COVID-19, when glasses were coming in but organizations weren't necessarily doing things where they could be distributed out.

"We wouldn't get anything done without our volunteers. This is something we learned very quickly, that without help, you don't get anything done," Hilke said.

There are yellow drop boxes throughout Jefferson City where people can donate old glasses.

"We'll never stop collecting glasses. ... There's always going to be a need for people to see better, so we'll always keep collecting, and we'll always be looking for people to send them to," Hilke said.

Julie Smith/News Tribune Hallee Stewart places a pair of glasses into a machine that will determine the prescription of each lens and will print out a receipt with that information. Stewart is a student at Russellville High Schoool and in the National Honor Society and was part of a group of nearly two dozen students who volunteered their morning Tuesday at the Lions Eyeglasses Recycling Center in north Jefferson City.

Julie Smith/News Tribune Russellville High School student Trinity Riggs loads a tray with a couple of dozen pairs of glasses before dipping them into a warm water bath to clean them before they are taken to the next table to be dried. Riggs and more than a dozen fellow RHS National Honor Society students spent their morning Tuesday sorting and organizing used eyeglasses for the Lions Club Eyeglasses Recycling program.

Julie Smith/News Tribune Russellville High School student Trinity Riggs dips a tray of eyeglasses into a warm water bath after which they are taken to the next table to be dried. Riggs and more than a dozen fellow RHS National Honor Society students spent their morning Tuesday sorting and organizing used eyeglasses for the Lions Club Eyeglasses Recycling program.

Julie Smith/News Tribune Jenna Dick, left, Allie Steenbergen and Shelby Morrow, at right, are shown drying glasses after they went through a warm water cleaning bath Tuesday while volunteering in north Jefferson City at the old Cedar City Lions Club building on Sandstone. The three are Russellville High School students involved in the National Honor Society and spent their morning helping people they'll never meet be able to see clearly, maybe for the first time in their life.

Julie Smith/News Tribune Jenna Dick, left, and Shelby Morrow continue the sorting process after the glasses have been cleaned and dried Tuesday while volunteering at the former Cedar City Lions Club building in north Jefferson City. Both are students in the National Honor Society who attend Russellville High School and spent the morning sorting through the glasses for the Lions Eyeglasses Recycling program.

Julie Smith/News Tribune After eyeglasses have been cleaned and dried, Georgia Ehrhardt and other students placed the glasses into boxes by type before the lens is tested for the prescription, after which it is documented, placed in a plastic bag with the piece of paper with the necessary information.

Julie Smith/News Tribune Russellville High School student Zachary Schrader looks closely at a pair of glasses to try to see if they are prescription or if they are readers as he and schoolmates in the National Honor Society volunteer their service at the former Cedar City Lions Club location in north Jefferson City. The building houses the Lions Club eyeglasses collection program that has been relocated to Jefferson City and where volunteers can serve their community and people worldwide with collection and sorting of glasses that are then sent typically via volunteers on mission trips to help people be able to see. If you or a group would like to volunteer your time to sort eyeglasses, contact a Lions Club member and they will help set up a date and time. to accommodate you.