Boy and Girl Scouts from troops in the Tamaqua and Panther Valley areas collected more than 500 pairs of used eyeglasses and donated them to the Tamaqua Lions Club.

It's a record, said Nancy Paisley, who with Tara Goho is a co-community leader for Community No. 310. The Scouts have participated in the eyeglass collection for six years, collecting about 400 pairs each year.Goho said that Community 310 includes Girl Scouts from the Daisy to Senior level from 15 local troops.Brian Keich, president of the Tamaqua Lions Club, met with some of the participating Scouts on Thursday to present "Sight Night" patches of achievement. On the patch is a pumpkin wearing a pair of eyeglasses."That's because the start of the drive to collect the glasses usually starts around Halloween," Goho said. "The Scouts are going door-to-door trick-or-treating, and it gives them the opportunity to start asking about collecting used glasses."Locally, 15 Boy Scouts and 29 Girl Scouts took part in the collection.