There”s a newly painted bright blue and yellow mailbox at the bus shelter that”s adjacent to the Town Plaza in downtown Los Gatos–but don”t put any mail in it, because it”s really a collection box for old eyeglasses.
The box was placed there by the Los Gatos Lions Club to collect eyeglasses that are refurbished and donated to needy people around the world.
The project was spearheaded by the father and son team of John and Jeff Lochner.
“It took two years to get the box, have it sandblasted and refinished with the Lions logo,” John Lochner said.
But when Lochner asked the town for permission to put the box in the plaza, he ran into problems. The town was concerned about setting a precedent that would open the floodgates to other, similar requests.
“I happened to remember that the bus shelter has a plaque on it that says the Lions built the shelter, so I asked to put it there,” Lochner said.
Indeed, the plaque notes that the Lions built and donated the shelter to the town in 1980. Ironically, the plaque says that “John Lochnar” was mayor of Los Gatos at the time.
His name was misspelled, but some 35 years later John Lochner remains active in town: He”s been a member of the Lions club for 56 years.
His son Jeff has been a Lion for 29 years.
The Lochners installed the “eyeglasses only” box in early November 2014.
All the eyeglasses that are collected are taken to a recycling warehouse in Vallejo where they”re prepped for distribution through the nonprofit Lions in Sight program.