A new student organization wants to open students’ eyes to the “fight for sight” by bringing World Sight Day to campus Oct. 8.
TOMS Campus Club will collect used eyeglasses and offer games to students from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Union Oval to raise awareness for blindness and visual impairment.
“We’re going to be taking and collecting all the glasses we get that day on the eighth and then we’re going to do another one on the 14th at one of the Union tables,” said sophomore Rodrigo Patterson, president of TOMS Campus Club.
The glasses will be given to the Bowling Green Lions Club who will clean them and give them to people with visual impairments, he said.
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness created by Lions Clubs International and is held this year on Oct. 10 but because of Fall Break, TOMS Campus Club is recognizing it on Oct. 8, Patterson said.
Sophomore Mackenzie Warner, vice president of the club, said she hopes they can spread the word about TOMS and the importance of helping other people have sight, something she thinks many people take for granted.
TOMS is an organization that sells shoes and eyewear based on the “one-for-one” concept. Every time a pair of shoes or glasses is purchased, TOMS gives new shoes to children in need or helps treat children with visual impairments around the world.
Each event hosted by TOMS Campus Club in October will raise awareness for different off-campus organizations as well as TOMS, Patterson said.
He hopes this event will raise awareness for the Bowling Green Lions Club.
It is a local branch of Lions Clubs International that works to improve the quality of life for people in Wood County through volunteer work.
TOMS Campus Club will also team up with the University Activities Organization the week after Fall Break in the Union to give students 30 percent discounts on up to 100 pairs of TOMS shoes in exchange for $10 to $15 donations of food, personal care items or clothing which will be given to the BG Christian Pantry and Homeless Connect.
“The 14th through the 18th we are selling all the TOMS and we have a limited number of 100 TOMS so once we sell 100, we’re done with the discount,” Patterson said. “Nov. 19 is when you’ll actually pick up your TOMS and you’ll decorate them that day.”
After 100 pairs are sold, students can still receive 5 percent discounts to the TOMS website in exchange for smaller donations, he said.
Junior Cieara Little, event planner for the club, said she hopes the events will help the club grow in popularity across campus so they can spread the word of giving back.
“My hope is to get more people involved and aware of the TOMS movement and the meaning of it because it’s really spectacular and it’s going to take a team to move it to where it needs to be,” she said.
