White Cane Days helps raise funds for assistance

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Lions Club collected donations for White Cane Days Friday and Saturday in Moses Lake.

More than 20 volunteers with the Lions Club worked two-hour shifts at the post office and Safeway.

They were collecting funds for sight and hearing related activities.

All funds collected go toward purchasing eyeglasses and assistance with surgeries, said member Chris Nilsen.

On Friday, an elderly woman on her way to the post office stopped and gave a donation, he said. She told him about how she never would have had glasses when she was younger if not for the Lions Club.

The club’s interest in helping with sight and hearing impaired individuals began in the 1920s when Helen Keller spoke to club members about her life and the need for assistance, Nilsen said.

Since then, clubs across the nation collect donations and raise awareness about sight and hearing impairment.

Each year the Moses Lake Medical Team has traveled to Africa to render free medical care, the club donated glasses and funds, he said.

Member Nicole Carver said she has a personal interest in helping with the White Cane Days fund-raiser.

When her father was diagnosed with diabetes, one of the first medical issues he dealt with was the loss of his sight.

The club assisted her father by helping to pay for surgeries and helping him adapt to his home without sight because he lived alone, she said.

“We have a lot of interest in helping to serve,” Carver said about the club.

The club meets the first and third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. in the grange hall at the Grant County Fairgrounds.