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As a lifelong resident of Naperville, George Pradel has watched his community blossom from a sleepy country town with 4,500 residents to a bustling city of 147,000 people that regularly ranks as one of the best places to live in the United States.

Pradel is proud of his city, its walkable downtown and excellent schools, and since he became mayor 15 years ago, he’s had ample opportunity to share Naperville with people he meets. What truly makes his city special, he Likes to say, is the people who live there. That’s something he learned more than 60 years ago.

Back in 1947 Pradel was one of 30 students in Naperville’s Bronsonville Elementary, a one-room red brick school house. The fifth grader’s “lazy eye” vision made the words in his schoolbooks run together, and when his teacher Irene Kocher noticed he was struggling, she told his mother she thought he might need glasses.

The news was troubling. “Times were tough and my dad was not making very much money, maybe only $45 a week,” he says. The family of six was growing quickly and Pradel knew they didn’t have an extra $15 for glasses.

But Miss Kocher knew what to do. “I have a friend who is a Lion and we’re going to submit your name for glasses,” she told him. Within a few weeks, Pradel was wearing his first pair of glasses nonstop. “They weren’t real pretty but they were practical,” he says of the thick brown and clear plastic frames. “I was so tickled I wore them every chance I got.” Shortly after Pradel joined the town’s police force in 1966, his friend Everett Gregory invited him to join the Naperville Noon Lions Club. He didn’t need to think twice. “Because of what the Lions have done for me I wanted to give back in a big way.” During the last forty years, he’s raised money for the Lions and participated actively in the club. He has a special affinity for the annual 5K road race the Lions sponsor in Naperville, which drew almost 5,000 runners last year.

While writing about the upcoming race in the city newsletter a few years ago, Pradel shared that the Lions had bought him his first pair of glasses. “I have no shame about that,” he confessed. “The Lions club is so friendly to everyone and has done so much for our city, I just wanted people to know how much the Lions mean to me.”

The Lions Club has a huge eyeglass recycling program, collecting more than 5 million pairs of eyeglasses annually and distributing them to more than 3 million people in developing nations. Donating your old or unused glasses provides life-changing vision services for needy people all around the world. You can make a difference in the life of a vision-impaired person. Donate your glasses today!