Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre (CLERC)
11808 85th Street N.W.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada  T3R 1J3

Send all mail to:

Box 1530 Stn T
Calgary A.B
Canada  T2H 3A3

Contact: Bernie Gribben, PDG, Chairman
E-mail: clerc@shaw.ca
Web site: www.clerc.ca
Telephone: 403-640-1056
Fax: 403-255-8758

Rick Forti, Eyeglass Shop Supervisor
Telephone: 403-662-3660
Fax: 403-297-4577

Number of eyeglasses collected in 2004-05: 317,017                                                                                                                           Number of eyeglasses distributed in 2003-04: 301,441

The Lions of District 37-E sponsor the CLERC. It is the first operational LERC in Canada and the 11th LERC.

It was in 1996 that Lions arranged for volunteers at the Calgary Correctional Centre to process used eyeglasses. A corrections officer oversees the volunteers.

In 2001, the CLERC received the Alberta Premier's Award of Excellence for efficiency and cooperation. In September 2002, the prisioners processed their one millionth pair of eyeglasses.

In 2002, the CLERC distributed 257,550 pairs of recycled eyeglasses to: Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ghana, Haiti, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Samoa, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.

The CLERC accepts the following: recycled hearing aids, soft eyeglass cases, safety glasses, recycled eyeglasses, non-prescription sunglasses, and prescription sunglasses, and uncut lenses.