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A
History of Lions Clubs International
 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 beginning an association with Lionism that didn't end
until 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 60000 in 1183 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. 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 eye glasses 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 have 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 whose parents can't
afford them to multimillion dollar programs to cure blindness on a
worldwide scale.
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