LIHU‘E — Anyone needing eye care and cannot afford it is welcome to visit the Pacific Eye Center from 1 to 5 p.m., Dec. 4. Dr. Larry Sherrer and the staff of the office located next to Taco Bell in
LIHU‘E — Anyone needing eye care and cannot afford it is welcome to visit the Pacific Eye Center from 1 to 5 p.m., Dec. 4.
Dr. Larry Sherrer and the staff of the office located next to Taco Bell in the Kukui Grove Center complex will be hosting its 13th Annual Free Eye Care program during that time.
“I’ve always wanted to do something to give back to the community, and this is something we can do,” Sherrer said. “We started this after a discussion with Dr. Greg Naganuma of the Great Smiles Dental. He wanted to do a promotion and when we agreed to do this type of program of giving back, we’ve done it ever since.”
Sherrer said he hopes that other business professionals will follow his example of providing their professional expertise to people in need.
“Especially during these economic hard times, people can really use the help,” Sherrer said.
During last year’s event, the Pacific Eye Center staff noted that vision becomes secondary to feeding a family, or keeping a roof over one’s head.
“This is Pacific Eye Center’s way of helping our community who cannot afford these services due to lack of funds, or the lack of medical insurance,” Sherrer said in a release.
Sherrer said among his clients is a pastor who leads a church service on the beach and the pastor said he will try to figure out a way to get some of those parishoners to take advantage of the program.
“There is no reservations during that four-hour period,” said Nette Manaday, office manager for Pacific Eye Center. “People who need our services simply show up on a first come, first served basis.”
The giving of professional services is not limited to offering free eye care to community residents, though.
Sherrer, a former football player for the University of Hawai‘i and professional football programs, said he’s donated more than $10,000 in athletic training equipment to each of the Kaua‘i public high schools for their respective athletic programs.
“Anyone who has professional-grade equipment at home they are not using should realize the schools can use these types of equipment to help the students,” Sherrer said. “I had this equipment at home, and with the budget cuts and deficits at the school, thought they could use it more than me.”
Sherrer, a former runningback with the Hawai‘i Rainbows between 1969 and 1971, said Waimea High School has already made arrangements to incorporate the leg press he offered to the school. That single piece of equipment is valued at about $4,000, he said.
During his tenure at the University of Hawai‘i, Sherrer, a transfer from Oklahoma, said he was the first player in UH football history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.
That feat earned him a spot in the Hawai‘i Circle of Honor, finishing his football career as the school’s career leader in rushing and scoring before graduating from the John A. Burns School of Medicine in 1984, states the University of Hawai‘i athletics Web site.
Sherrer said Kaua‘i High School is arranging to incorporate the Cross Action Pulley system, valued at about $4,500, into its athletic programs, and Kapa‘a is scheduled to receive a Power Rack system valued at about $2,500.
“Each year, Pacific Eye Center contributes about $10,000 in services back to the community as a way of giving back,” Sherrer, who went on to play professional football following his Hawai‘i tenure, said.
