Joliet Noon Lions recycling projects benefit sight, hearing projects

The Joliet Noon Lions Club recently collected and sent a large amount of recyclable items that will help people in Illinois with their hearing and vision needs.

During the first quarter of 2023, the Joliet Noon Lions collected 1,295 pairs of used eyeglasses, 29 used hearing aids, 23 ink cartridges, 24 cell phones, 4.8 pounds of keys and 4.3 pounds of pull tabs, according to a news release from the organization.

All these items were sent to the Lions of Illinois Foundation to help fund various programs and services. For instance, used eyeglasses are sanitized and separated by prescription before being sent by the tens of thousands of worldwide on physician trips, according to the organization.

The hearing aids are sanitized, sent to the Lions of Illinois Foundation office and then recalibrated for individual corrective use. When people from Joliet are in need of hearing aids and contact the Lions, they are assigned a local audiologist for evaluation, who conducts and evaluations. The hearing aids are then transferred to the audiologist for final tuning and installation.

The cartridges, cell phones, keys and pull tabs collected are sent to the state foundation for monetary reimbursement. These funds help run the Lions’ projects in Illinois, like Camp Lions, low vision clinics and/or sight/hearing screening vans.

The Joliet Noon Lions are seeking personal and corporate sponsors for its “Annual Night at the Slammers” on July 7. That night also is Princess Night with fireworks following the game.

For information, call Lion Mark Turk at 815-922-4065 or visit e-clubhouse.org/sites/jolietnoon.