During the past year members of the Oak Ridge Lions Club and the Oak Ridge Century Lions Club participated in vision screening programs which involved 322 Oak Ridge children. Both Oak Ridge Lions Clubs have also worked with the Norris Lions Club to screen additional children in Anderson County. Of those screened 10 were found to have conditions that required further testing to determine if the child had a problem that might cause vision impairment in later life.

The screening involves a lot of work on the part of dedicated volunteers but only a little time to take a picture of each child’s eyes with a special camera. The diagnostic photograph is then sent to Nashville to the Tennessee Lions Eye Center to be evaluated by pediatric visions specialist. When a problem is detected the child's parents are notified and given a list of qualified eye care professionals in their area.

Because some of the problems detected by this method can best be corrected by treatment very early in life, the screening should take place before the child reaches the age of four and can be done on children as young as 6 months. Since this is a free service done by volunteers and requires equipment setup, a reasonably large group is desired, so the screenings are generally conducted at nursery schools and day care facilities.

The Tennessee Lions Eye Center, which performs the evaluations, is a new facility at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. The Lions Clubs of Tennessee have pledged four million dollars over a 5-year period to pay for this very valuable facility. Profits from the Annual Lions Club of Oak Ridge Golf Tournament go toward paying the $50,000 pledged by the Oak Ridge Lions Club.

Funds for other local charitable activities are raised by the semi annual sale of mops, brooms and light bulbs. In addition, A fairly recent funds raising activity that is no cost and very little trouble to the participant comes from the Kroger Cares program. Anyone who trades at Kroger’s can stop by the bank in the Kroger store and buy certificates in the name of the Oak Ridge Lions Club that can then be used at face value to pay for groceries at the check out. There is no charge to the participant and the Kroger Store donates a small percentage of the value of the certificates spent to the Oak Ridge Lions Club.