In the context of social changes brought about by World War I and rapid industrialization, Lions Clubs Founder Melvin Jones wondered what would happen if people put their talents to work improving their communities. He believed successful business individuals had the capability to make a significant impact and sought to harness that power for good.
The seed that would become Lions Clubs International was planted in Chicago in 1917 after Jones, an insurance executive, proposed that his business club should focus on community betterment rather than business concerns alone. He invited similar-minded organizations to a meeting that resulted in the formation of the Association of Lions Clubs. Their first national convention was held in Dallas in October 1917, where the organization’s name was officially approved as Lions Clubs.
A century ago, in 1925, Helen Keller spoke at the Lions International Convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, and challenged the Lions by ending with these words:
“Will you not help me hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness, no little deaf blind child untaught, no blind man or woman unaided? I appeal to you, Lions – you who have your sight, your hearing, you who are strong and brave and kind – will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in my crusade against darkness?”
Since that time, the major focus of Lions fundraising activities has been sight conservation, although other projects are pursued including drug awareness programs in high schools, and others that serve the Lions Clubs eight global initiatives: Vision – to help prevent avoidable blindness; Childhood cancer – provide support for the needs of affected children and families; Diabetes – work to reduce the prevalence of diabetes and improve quality of life for those living with diabetes; Disaster relief – take steps to meet immediate needs and provide long-term support for devastated communities; Environment – find ways to protect the environment to create healthier communities and a more sustainable world; Humanitarian – identify the world’s most crucial needs and provide humanitarian aid where most needed; and Hunger – strive to improve food security and access to nutritious food to help alleviate hunger.
The work of Lions Clubs 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, the 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.
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. As the largest non-governmental organization associated with the United Nations, The International Association of Lions Clubs was called upon by the United Nations and the World Health Organization to raise funds for an international program of sight conservation.
In response, The International Association of Lions Clubs began a program of fundraising called “Campaign Sight First” in order to cure or prevent 40 million cases of blindness worldwide. More than $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, and 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 whose parents can’t afford them to multi-million dollar programs to cure blindness on a worldwide scale
Seeing can be quite a spectacle.