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The Lakeville Lions Club was chartered April 6, 1953. It was
sponsored by the Northfield Lions Club and numbered 49 members.
Since then the membership has fluctuated from a low of 18 in
1962 to a high of 65 in November of 1968, and in recent years
has regularly remained around 50.
The International Association of Lions
Clubs began as the
dream of a Chicago insurance man Melvin Jones, who wondered
why local business clubs -- he was an active member of one
-- could not expand their horizons from purely business concerns
to the betterment of their communities and the world at large.
Jones' idea struck a chord within his own group, the Business
Circle of Chicago, and they authorized him to explore his concept
with similar organizations from around the United States. His
efforts resulted in an organizational meeting at a local hotel
on June 7, 1917.
The 12 men who gathered there overcame a natural sense of
loyalty to their parent clubs, voted the "Association
of Lions Clubs" into existence, and issued a call for
a national convention to be held in Dallas, Texas, USA in October
of the same year.
Thirty-six delegates representing 22 clubs from nine states
heeded the call, approved the "Lions Clubs" designation,
and elected Dr. William P. Woods of Indiana as their first
president. Guiding force and founder Melvin Jones was named
acting secretary. Thus began an association with Lionism that
only ended with his death in 1961.
That first convention also began to define what Lionism was
to become. A constitution and by-laws were adopted, the colors
of purple and gold approved, and a start made on Lionism's
Objectives and Code of Ethics.
One of the objects was startling for an era that prided itself
on mercenary individualism, and has remained one of the main
tenets of Lionism ever since. "No Club," it read, "shall
hold out the financial betterment of its members as its object."
Community leaders soon began to organize clubs throughout
the United States, and the association became "international" with
the formation of the Windsor, Ontario, Canada Lions Club in
1920. Clubs were later organized in China, Mexico, and Cuba.
By 1927, membership stood at 60,000 in 1,183 clubs.
In 1935, Panama became home to the first Central American
club, with the first South American club being organized in
Columbia the following year. Lionism reached Australia in 1947
and Europe in 1948, as clubs were chartered in Sweden, Switzerland,
and France. In 1952, the first club was chartered in Japan.
The International Association of Lions Clubs is today the
largest service organization in the world with over 1.4 million
members in more than 43,300 clubs in 714 Districts covering
182 countries and geographic areas. Lions Clubs are not social
clubs, although there are social benefits to membership. Lions
Club members give their time, skills and resources to raise
funds for charitable giving both in their communities and internationally.
The major focus of Lions fund raising activities is sight
conservation, although other projects are pursued such as drug
awareness programs in high schools, diabetes awareness programs
and other programs that are specific to individual Clubs and
Districts. Lions took up sight conservation as their major
goal after a speech given by Helen Keller at the Lions International
Convention held at Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1925. At that time,
Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become "Knights of
the Blind", a challenge that has become a rallying cry
for Lions projects around the world. (Goto Sight Conservation
links) Lions work in the area of sight conservation is carried
out at many levels. Individual Clubs sponsor free eye screening
programs using mobile eye clinics. In many countries, Clubs
sponsor eye surgery camps where cataract surgeries are performed
at no charge for those that can't afford this medical care.
Many clubs collect old eyeglasses for distribution to the needy
in other countries.
The International Association of Lions Clubs is the largest
non-governmental organization associated with the United Nations
and was called upon by the United Nations and the World Health
Organization to raise funds for an international program of
sight conservation. It has been estimated that 40 million cases
of curable and preventable blindness exist on this planet today.
Without intervention, this is projected to become 80 million
by the end of the decade.
The International Association of Lions Clubs began a program
of fund raising that they called "Campaign Sight First" in
order to cure/prevent 40 million cases of blindness worldwide.
Over $148,600,000 has been raised by Lions all over the world
for this program. Eye hospitals are being built in the places
that most need them. In India alone, over 300,000 cataract
surgeries have been performed and that number is rapidly growing.
Lions services to humanity range from purchasing eyeglass for
a child who's parents can't afford them to multimillion dollar
programs to cure blindness on a worldwide scale.
The Lions International Headquarters is in Oak Brook, Illinois,
USA. You can contact Lions Clubs International as follows:
Lions Clubs International
300 22nd Street
Oak Brook, IL USA 60521-8842
Telephone: 1.630.571.5466
Fax: 1.630.571.8890
Email: lions@lionsclubs.org
WWW: http://www.lionsclubs.org |
