By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

The United Way of Cincinnati & Community Chest Tuesday honored volunteers for leadership and community service at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center downtown.

The New Century Awards salute people and groups whose compassion helps improve lives and communities, organizers said.

Honorees include:

For leadership: Rosemary K. Schlachter of Evendale; Roger J. Schorr of Hyde Park; Dennis C. Cueno of Anderson Township; Leo Calderon of Edgewood; the Every Child Succeeds Parent Aid Team Leadership Group (Mary Ellen Cody, Sue Rae Fleischer and Lillian Jones); Phyllis S. Sewell of Finneytown; and Cody G. Taylor of Clermont County.

For community service: Sheila Gay of Anderson Township; Lynn R. Olman of Hyde Park; Gil Cloyd of Indian Hill; Richard Early of Dayton, Ohio; Jean Reisinger Coggan of Wyoming; Gerald Banks of Middletown; P. Deanna Skees of Florence; Judy E. Thompson of Anderson Township; the Work Resource Center in Walnut Hills; James D. Berghausen of Anderson Township; and Joel C. Cornette of Kenwood/Blue Ash.

Volunteer optical technicians from LensCrafters and opticians are working at the Evanston Recreation Center, 3204 Woodburn Ave., this week to provide eyeglasses to children who have been prescreened.

They're working out of a 40-foot van, named Seemore, that includes a full-service eyeglass lab and two exam rooms.

"It's like a mini-store and lab on a bus," said Alethea Hughes, captain of the regional effort in Cincinnati and general manager of a LensCrafters store.

The van, along with its sister vehicle, the Iris, travels from city to city every year as part of LensCrafters' Give the Gift of Sight program. It carries 3,500 frames and 9,000 lenses of varying prescriptions, said driver Mark Durkan.

Durkan, senior operations manager for the LensCrafters Foundation, said the effort serves about 75 children a day, and technicians can make the eyeglasses in about five minutes.

"It's great to be able to help children specifically," said Durkan, who lives in Cincinnati.

Allen Howard is on vacation. Karen Vance will write "Some Good News" until he returns. If you have a "good news" story you would like to share, e-mail kvance@fuse.net.