BLANKSTONE HELPS LIVERPOOL LIONS SPECS APPEAL

‘A better quality of life, through a better quality of sight’

As part of a wider community, we are always glad here at Blankstone for the chance to help in any way we can so when the The City of Liverpool Lions Club approached us about donating specs that our customers no longer use, but are perfectly functionable, of course it was a cause right up our optical street.

The City of Liverpool Lions Club formed in 1962 and has served the population of the city since then. They have a membership of 17 at present and are here to serve the city in a variety of ways. Lions Clubs International have a number of core service areas which are Vision, Hunger, Environment, Diabetes, and Childhood Cancer.

We recently met with Ian Francis, whose role within the City of Liverpool Lions Club is Club President.  He is also the Local Zone Chair and 2nd Vice District Governor of the District. His motto is simple – by working in partnership, you can achieve more! Ian popped into the practice to meet Mark and all of the team to collect our already-donated specs, and tell us more about the work of the City of Liverpool Lions Club.

Ian, it was so great to meet you when you called in to see us, and told us more about what you do…

For one of our services for vision we collect pre-loved spectacles and have done so for many years. The spectacles that we collect are then sent to our Headquarters, they are then sorted into the various strengths, they are then sent to our clubs in developing countries to be distributed to those that have poor eyesight, this enables the world to see better.

It was great to meet Mark and the team recently. I could also see his enthusiasm to work together, and the contribution from Mark and his customers, will go a long way in helping others to live a better quality of life, through having a better quality of sight. I hope that the City of Liverpool Lions Club and Blankstone Opticians can work together for many years to come, to make a difference.

Tell us about the rest of the work you do to help others…

Message In A Bottle (MIAB) is another of our main projects. We provide a small green and white canister, there is a form inside which is completed with health information, such as emergency contact, medicines taken, allergies etc. It also has two green cross stickers, one of which is put on the front door and the other on the fridge in which you put the canister. The emergency services know about the MIAB and look out for the stickers, so that they have knowledge about a person and are

able to treat the patient safely when they arrive at the patient’s property.

Another of our appeals is the annual Toy Appeal, we work with the radio stations to collect, sort and deliver the thousands of toys and gifts that are donated by the kind residents of our city to the young people whose families can’t afford to buy presents at such a pressurised time and with the cost of living these days, these toy appeals are much needed.

The Radio City campaign is called Mission Christmas and there are various shops that are taking donations throughout Merseyside. Radio City’s Toy Appeal is called Make a Difference and toys and gifts can be dropped off at the Radio Merseyside reception in Hanover Street in Liverpool City Centre.

Some words from our fabulous Mr. B., Mark Blankstone, about working with the City of Liverpool Lions Club:

‘I am absolutely delighted to offer to the City of Liverpool Lions Club any pre-owned spectacles donated by our customers. At present we have collected many hundreds of prescription spectacles but haven’t got a home to send them. It is wonderful that this charity gets involved with so it would be so rewarding to know that they will find a new home.

In these difficult times it is more important than ever to help those in need. By providing those that may be struggling to afford a pair of spectacles it’s our small way of giving back. Everyone on the team here at Blankstone Opticians looks forward to providing continued support to the City of Liverpool Lions Club – our generous clients always step up when it comes to giving back, and we hope this is just the beginning in terms of assisting this fantastic campaign, and the work of this wonderful organisation.’

If you would like to help in any way, feel free to pop into our Derby Square practice or contact us via our social media channels.

You can find out more about the work of the City of Liverpool Lions Club here:

https://www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/cityofliverpool/