Lions International helping the blind and visually impaired
By GRAHAM JAEHNIG
Lions Clubs International has a long history of serving the needs of communities, locally and around the world. Founded in Illinois in 1917, by Melvin Jones, in just under a century Lions International has grown to more than 46,000 clubs in 200 countries, with membership exceeding 1.4 million people.
In 1925, focus on work for the blind and visually impaired started at Cedar Point, Iowa, where Helen Keller addressed the international convention on June 30 of that year, challenging the Lions to become Knights of the Blind. The Lions rose to the challenge.
According the the Lions International website, Lions have worked on projects designed to prevent blindness, restore eyesight and improve eye health and eye care for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
“Indeed, sight is one of Lions defining causes,” the website states. “Through professional training, healthcare system development and wide spread drug treatment distribution, Lions have gained worldwide recognition for their work to improve sight and prevent blindness.”
Lions around the world are also actively involved in recycling eye glasses; supporting Lions Eye Banks that provide eye tissue for sight-saving surgeries; screening the vision of hundreds of thousands of people every year; and preventing blindness by providing treatment to those at risk of losing their vision.
In addition to these ongoing projects, Lions support recreational camps that are customized to meet the special needs of children and adults who are blind or who have severe vision loss.
“With input from experts physicians, departments and ministries of health and local foundations,” the website states, “Lions have organized recreational camps to give these individuals the unique experience of camping.”
An excellent example of the extent of fundraising activities Lions Clubs is found in the Chassell Lions Club. Every year since 1949, this club has sponsored the Chassell Strawberry Festival, a favorite annual Copper Country event.
“Festival proceeds have enabled us,” the Chassell Lions Club website states, “to return considerable dollars to the residents of Chassell Township in the form of scholarship programs, donations to the Chassell School Band, Children’s Halloween Party, and Christmas Charity Baskets. Additionally, some $2300 has been allocated for such organizations as Air Lifeline, American Cancer Society, Bay Cliff Health Camp, Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce, Little Brothers, Leader Dogs for the Blind, and Dial Help, to name a few. Some of our most ambitious projects to date has been to coordinate funding a Habitat for Humanity home built in Dodgeville and significant donations to Omega House. These funds include nearly $20,000 from Lions International, $2,000 from the Chassell Lions, and approximately $2900 from the Keweenaw, Houghton, Calumet, and South Range Lions.”
Just one more example of the function of a Lions Club is the Houghton Lions Club, which holds an annual chicken dinner. Through its fundraising efforts, this club donates to such organizations as the Omega House; Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly; Local Eyeglass Program; Houghton High School Scholarship; Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter Home; Salvation Army; Sky; Copper County Habitat for Humanity; and 31 Backpacks, according to the Houghton Lions Club facebook page.
