Giving the gift of sight

When Peter Scorcia began work on a Boy Scout project to help earn him the rank of Eagle Scout, he wanted to do something different.
“There are many drives for food and clothing already,” said Scorcia. “I wanted to do something where I could get a good outcome, but something that hasn’t been beaten to death.”
So Scorcia, 17, a Howard Beach resident and senior at Brooklyn Tech High School, started doing some research. He came across the Iowa Lions Eye Bank, an organization that collects eyeglasses and distributes them to needy people in South American countries. Scorcia knew he’d found his project.
“I wear glasses, and I know what it’s like to need them and not have them,” he said. “It’s pretty terrible. Also, it’s something not everyone thinks about.”
Turning his idea into reality, however, would not be easy. In order to gain the Eagle Scout rank, Scorcia explained, all Boy Scouts must organize and direct a service project of some sort.
From promoting the project to finding people to help collect donations to packaging and shipping the glasses, Scorcia was responsible for every detail.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” said Scorcia. “A lot more effort goes into background work than you think.”
Multiple businesses on Cross Bay Boulevard refused requests to set up collection booths outside, leaving Scorcia with only two collection points - one at St. Helen’s Church in Howard Beach, where Scorcia is a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and nearby Our Lady of Grace Parish (OLG).
The project began in early October, but in the first week, OLG collected only 20 pairs of glasses - far fewer than Scorcia hoped.
But perseverance ultimately paid off.
“I was on the phone all the time,” Scorcia said. “I called people I knew that worked at big corporations and asked them to collect glasses at their workplaces. I got help from my family and the rest of my [Boy Scout] troop. It worked out fine.”
Three weeks and 1,300 pairs of glasses later, Scoria’s project was a success.
“A lot of the glasses we got were actually quite nice, quite expensive,” he said. “Some are old-fashioned but still intact. Only about 40 were in bad shape.”
Even those 40, however, will serve a purpose. Iowa Lions Eye Bank cleans and fixes all glasses before distributing them to nations where eye care is anything but readily available.
“It’s not just a matter of glasses being expensive in other countries, though they are that,” said Scorcia. “It’s also an availability issue. A lot of small towns up in the mountains or rural areas don’t have an optometrist. They might have a local doctor, but no one who specializes in eyes.”
“If you think about it, a lot of people wear glasses, and people tend to get new pairs every couple years,” he continued. “So most households in the area have glasses lying around that are never going to be used. To me, it made a lot of sense to just donate them.”
For those in need, those donations will make a great holiday gift.
“I can’t imagine a better present for the holidays than giving someone the gift of sight,” Scorcia said.