This Halloween, Trade in Sweets for Sight

All you adults out there: disappointed that you're too old to trick-or-treat? Dreading the slow crawl around the neighborhood with your toddler dressed in a motion-inhibiting ladybug costume? Well, this is your moment to reinvigorate the night of Halloween. This time, however, instead of focusing on your sweet tooth, help your fellow humans with their eyes.

The "Sight Night" eyeglasses donation project organized by OneSight and the Lions Clubs International asks volunteers to collect complete unwanted eyeglasses from their neighbors to donate to eye clinics in developing countries.

The Lions Clubs Web site provides a flier and door hangers you can distribute to your neighbors' houses, "official volunteer" stickers to wear and directions for dropping your quarry off at participating opticians.

It's not too late to participate in this particularly Halloween-appropriate venture. If you think about it, Halloween is one of the best times to have good eyesight; on no other day of the year are there so many strange, amusing and hair-raising things to see. A haunted house just isn't the same if you can't see the zombie coming at you.

If you report how many pairs of glasses you collected by November 6, you will receive an official Sight Night Certificate of Recognition. But the real reward will be knowing you helped people all over the world get a better look at life.

Photo courtesy of zenobia_joy, via Flickr