According to the World Health Organization, the eyesight of approximately one-fourth of the world’s population can be improved through the use of corrective lenses.

If you have old glasses buried in a drawer, needy people within developing countries – where eye care is often unaffordable and inaccessible – would love to have them.

Lions Clubs on Maui, as part of the “Lions in Sight” statewide project, will be collecting used eyeglasses and hearing aids at Lahaina Cannery Mall (Longs Drugs entrance) and Walmart in Kahului on Saturday, Jan. 21, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Donated glasses will be cleaned, categorized by prescription and prepared for distribution by Lions, Leos and other groups.

Hearing aids will be cleaned, repaired and tested for local distribution.

Lions ask residents to look through dresser drawers and closets for used eyeglasses and hearing aids, then donate them on Saturday.

Donors who cannot make it this weekend can drop off glasses and hearing aids in specially marked Lions Recycle For Sight collection boxes throughout Maui. West Maui locations include the Kaiser Clinic in Lahaina, Maui Medical Group in Lahaina and the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua. More locations are posted at www.hawaiilions.org (click on “Information,” then “Eyeglasses Recycling” then “at these locations”).

Lions are known for their commitment to being “Knights of the Blind in the Crusade against Darkness,” a challenging statement made by Helen Keller in 1925.

Maui residents are called upon to share the gift of sight by dropping off used prescription and nonprescription glasses, sunglasses and hearing aids. Children’s eyeglasses are especially needed.

Hawaii Lions explained, “Thousands of eyeglasses are buried in dresser drawers, in desks and closets at homes and at work. It’s time to dig out those glasses and put them to use. Old prescriptions may seem like they are no longer useful. However, to someone in need, recycled glasses can mean the chance to work and support a family, the chance to read a book or the newspaper or the chance to see a child for the first time.”