Debbie Jewell knows how it feels to witness a person seeing the world clearly for the first time. She saw it in Mexico when she passed out a pair of recycled eyeglasses to a 94-year-old woman.

"I was totally shocked," Jewell said.

"When I gave her the glasses, she grabbed and squeezed me. She was so excited to be able to see this way for the first time."

She said she also gave glasses to a woman who had carried her eyeglass prescription in her purse for two years because she didn't have the money to buy them.

Debbie Jewell (center) with Mexican women who received recycled eyeglasses as part of LensCrafters' Give a Gift of Sight mission. (Courtesy Debbie Jewell) | ZOOM |

Jewell helped to launched LensCrafters' Give a Gift of Sight missions Tuesday in Greater Cincinnati to collect 10,000 pairs of eyeglasses and sunglasses for the less fortunate.

The collection drive runs through July.

LensCrafters has conducted the missions since 1988 and has collected 1.5 million eyeglasses nationwide for its mission in South America.

"Our Greater Cincinnati stores have always been strong supporters of the Gift of Sight Program," said Jewell, LensCrafters general manager.

Jewell said Give the Gift of Sight is a series of charitable vision care programs sponsored by LensCrafters and LensCrafters Foundation with Lions Clubs International and other charities.

"LensCrafters provide eye exams and glasses to those in need and sends mission teams overseas to give eye exams and deliver recycled glasses to the less fortunate in developing countries," Jewell said.

LensCrafters has a giant recycling system near its parent company, Luxottica, in Mason, where all donated glasses around the world are recycled, labeled and put into the vision care mission programs.

To find LensCrafters stores to donate, call (800) 522-5367.