MERLOW COLUMN

Lions Clubs Orientation

The District 14-K Orientation Committee has decided to place articles in the Tattle Tailer that are designed to REFRESH members' know-ledge of Lions Clubs International, REVITALIZE their enthusiasm for helping those in need, RECONNECT them with their reasons for becoming a Lion, and RENEW their Commitment to membership development, extension and leadership initiatives.

Our first article covers "LIONS CLUBS FACTS"

Membership: Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organizations with 1.3 million members in approximately 45,000 clubs in 202 countries and geographical areas.

Lions are men and women who volunteer their time to humanitarian causes. Founded in 1917, the volunteer organization's motto is "We Serve."

Service to Others: Worldwide, Lions clubs are recognized for their serv­ ice to the blind and visually impaired. This service be~an when Helen Keller challenged Lions to become "Knights of the Blind In the crusade against darkness" during the 1925 Lions Clubs International Convention.

Today, Lions extend their commitment to sight conservation thru count­ less local efforts, as well as through their international SightFirst Program and Lions World Sight Day, a global partnership of United Nations agencies, eye care and philanthropic organizations and nealth professionals, held the sec­ ond Thursday of each October to increase awareness of the need to eradicate blindness. Lions also collect and recycle eyeglasses for distribution to devel­ oping countries year-round and especially during May, which is Lions Recycle for Sight Month.

In addition, Lions make a strong commitment to young people through youth outreach programs. Lions also work to improve the environment, build homes for the disabled, support diabetes education, conduct hearing pro­ grams and, through their foundation, provide disaster relief around the world.

Based on a recent report of Lions clubs worldwide, it is estimated that each Lions club donates $9,900 to charitable causes, totaling $449 million. Each year, Lions club members volunteer approximately 76 million hours, which is equivalent to 36,500 people working full time a year.

Sight Programs: In 1990, Lions established SightFirst, raising $143 mil­ lion to fight the major causes of preventable and reversible blindness. The unprecedented program joins Lions volunteers with blindness prevention experts, organizations, and government.

SightFirst has:

• provided more than 7.1 million cataract surgeries
• built or expanded 213 eye hospitals
• supported more than 80 million treatments to prevent river blindness

• improved eye care in 90 countries around the world

In 2005, Lions launched Campaign SightFirst II with a goal of raising at least $150 million to continue and expand the extraordinary work of SightFirst.

Lions clubs support other sight-related activities. Lions club members: • provide 600,000 free professional glaucoma screenings and make 25,000 corneal transplants possible eacn year

• establish and support a majority of the world's eye banks, hundreds of clinics, hospitals and eye research centers worldwide
• collect more then 30 million pairs of used eyeglasses an­ nually for free distribution to those in need in developing countries
• offer screenings, eyeglasses and sports goggles to athletes through the Special Olympics - Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes Program
• provide free quality eye care, eyeglasses, Braillewriters, large print texts, white canes, and guide dogs to thousands of people each year.

The District 14-K Orientation Committee (Lion Leon Cameron, Region I chairperson; Lion Joseph Chunko, Region II chairperson, and Lion Paul Cresseveur, Region III chairperson) hopes that each Lions clubs member reads the above articfe and renews his or her commitment to Lionism. Our next arti­ cle covers the "Our Illustrious History of Lions Clubs International."

- Lion Joseph Chunko