![\"Terria](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/caps-lost-and-foundweb.jpg\")
<\/a>Misplaced spectacles \u2013 sun glasses, prescription glasses and reading glasses \u2013 are refurbished and have gone to clinics in Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela, the Philippines, Mexico and Katmandu in Nepal, thanks to the efforts of Alba Orr, a now-retired Grossmont College and a longtime member of the Lions Club. This year, CAPS provided about 165 pairs of glasses to Orr, whose tireless volunteer work on behalf of the service club and its international mission to improve the vision of the world\u2019s neediest populations is widely known throughout the district.<\/p>\n
Some of the sunglasses are distributed to farm workers in the Imperial Valley, said Orr, who estimates she\u2019s collected some 10,000 pairs of glasses through the college district and other local sites since 1990.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe smiles on people\u2019s faces \u2013 some who haven\u2019t been able to see clearly for years because they\u2019re unable to get glasses \u2013 is what makes it all worthwhile,\u201d said Orr, whose late husband inspired her to first join the Lions in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people come up and say \u2018thank you so much, God bless you for what you\u2019re doing\u2019 \u2013 it just makes me feel good that I am giving something for the less fortunate,\u201d Orr said.<\/p>\n
All cell phones, iPads and other electronic devices that go unclaimed are given to the Wounded Warriors Project, a veterans\u2019 service organization that offers programs, services and events for wounded veterans of military actions following the events of Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n
CAPS, formed in 2013 when the college district separated law enforcement functions from parking enforcement, expanded its charitable efforts this year in partnership with the San Diego Sheriff\u2019s Office. The department recently donated a dozen bicycles to the children of students enrolled through state-funded assistance programs at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges.<\/p>\n
CAPS Director Nicole Conklin said she and Sheriff\u2019s Sgt. Richard Goggin received the bikes through a Sheriff\u2019s Department program in which used bikes are refurbished by trustees in the George Bailey Detention Facility and given to community groups and institutions through an application process. Goggin serves as the sergeant in charge of the Sheriff\u2019s Department unit assigned to the colleges and brought the bike program to the campuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe first participated at the start of the semester with the giveaway of adult bikes during orientation week at the colleges and everyone loved it, so we applied for more bikes, this time for both adults and smaller children for the holidays,\u201d said Conklin, whose CAPS department, in addition to parking enforcement, provides services including safety escorts, battery jumps and vehicle and room unlocks. \u201cIt\u2019s our way of giving back to the college district and showing people that we are an approachable team, here to help students and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n