| Summary of Significant Accomplishments of Lions Clubs International |
| 2007 - Lions International was named by Financial Times as the best Non-Governmental Organization in the world. |
| 2005 - Lions International established a fund for collecting and distributing money for relief and rebuilding the lives of the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that killed and displaced thousands of citizens of the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Again, tens of millions of dollars were raised, and hands-on service was provided, by the millions of Lions Clubs all over the world to support the relief and rebuilding efforts. |
| 2004 - 2005 - Lions raised and distributed over $25 million in relief to the victims of the devastating tsunami that hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. As part of their relief efforts, Lions built over 3000 houses for displaced victims. In addition to the money raised, members of Lions Clubs volunteered their time and hands-on service in support of the relief and rebuilding efforts. |
| 2001 - 2002 - Over fifty years after having been expelled from China in 1948, Lions International was invited by the government of The Peoples Republic of China to return and organize Lions Clubs in every province of the country of over a billion people. The leaders of the government stated that the reason they wanted Lions in their country was because the Lions' philosophy of service to mankind would help the Chinese people build a better society. Today, there are hundreds of Lions Clubs and thousands of Lions members in China. The members continue to increase. |
| September 11, 2001 - In response to the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., Lions raised tens of millions of dollars to support the relief workers, first responders, victims and survivors of the victims. In addition, Lions collected and delivered skin tissue for skin graphs for burn victims. |
| 1990's - Campaign SightFirst was organized and implemented to address the continuing worldwide threat of preventable and treatable blindness and low vision. Through the efforts of Lions all over the world, Campaign SightFirst raised $147 million which was increased to $193 million (through good management and investments) and, over the decade, was used to fund 818 projects in 90 countries. Among the accomplishments of this campaign were (1) preventing serious vision loss for 27 million people, (2) providing 80 million treatments for river blindness, (3) restoring the sight to 7 million people with cataracts, (4) improving eye-care services for hundreds of millions of people, (5) building 213 eye hospitals and clinics, (6) upgrading 315 eye centers with improved equipment, (7) training 305,000 ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses, and other eye-care workers, and (8) launching the world's first-ever initiative to combat childhood blindness in partnership with the World Health Organization, including thirty pediatric eye-care centers. |
| March, 1988 - Lions International Board of Directors issued the Lions Policy Position on Peace which was presented at Lions Day at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The policy position further demonstrated Lionism helping to promote the "Spirit of Understanding Among People of the World." |
| 1983 - Lions International hosted the International Symposium on Drug Awareness which was attended by representatives from numerous countries. It resulted in the Lions Drug Awareness Program which targeted drug abuse and treatment worldwide. |
| 1981 - The Lions hearing dog program was established as a result of a project begun by Australian Lions. Today, Lions' help for the deaf and hearing impaired takes a myriad of forms. |
| 1968 - The Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) was begun to take the services provided by the organization to new levels by tackling global problems as well as assisting local Lions Clubs with local humanitarian projects too big or too expensive for them to do on their own. In 1972, LCIF made its first grant; a $5000 gift for flood relief. Since that relatively modest beginning, LCIF has given out $604 million in grants to improve the lives of people worldwide. Grants are made for all manner of human need; public health, private medical need, medical research, environmental projects, education, housing, disaster relief, community and civic projects, youth mentoring, drug awareness. The list of categories is unlimited. |
| 1961 - The Lions Youth Exchange Program was begun as an out-growth of an idea originated by members of the Lions Club of Kobe, Japan. The program allows young people to live for a time as part of a family in another country. Millions of young people all around the world have participated and have helped to advance the goal of Lionism to promote the "spirit of understanding among people of the world." |
| 1959 - Lions began purchasing and distributing "talking books" on a worldwide basis. |
| 1957 - The Leo Program was begun giving high school-aged youths the opportunity to learn to serve their communities and their fellowman through hands-on Lions Club activities. |
| 1957 - Famed humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer became an honorary member of Lions International. In a letter to International President John Stickley, Dr. Schweitzer wrote, "I hope that the movement of Lions progresses. It has such a good influence on men of our era." |
| 1950's - Steadily more global in performance, Lions International developed an international language department with specially trained employees handling correspondence in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Finnish. Today, correspondence, newsletters, reports, and other communication and publications are provided in those languages as well as in Portuguese, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Danish, Chinese, Norwegian, Icelandic, Turkish, Greek, Hindi, Polish, Indonesian, Thai, Flemish-French and many other regional and local languages and dialects spoken in many other parts of the world. |
| 1954 - At the International Convention in New York City, the association adopted "We Serve" as its official motto. |
| 1945 - Lions International Founder and Executive Secretary, Melvin Jones, together with other members and leaders of Lions International, were invited to attend and participate in the organizational meetings of The United Nations. Lions played an important role in writing the United Nations Charter. Since the inception of the UN, Lions have maintained a consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and Lions' leaders continue to serve on the boards of UNESCO and the World Health Organization. |
| June 30, 1925 - Helen Keller spoke to the Ninth International Convention in Cedar Point, OH and, in an eloquent speech, asked the members of Lions International, "Will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in this crusade against darkness?" In the decades since taking up that challenge, Lions International has become the foremost provider of services to the blind and visually impaired through (1) eyeglass collections, recycling and distribution, (2) building and staffing eye banks, vision clinics, hospitals, and camps for the visually impaired, (3) providing medical doctors, nurses, technicians and equipment, (4) distributing pharmaceuticals and medications, (5) providing white canes and trained guide dogs, (6) providing and supporting vision related medical research and development of equipment and visual aids for the blind and visually impaired, and (7) providing training and education programs for the blind. Worldwide, Lions now provide approximately 86% of all aid to the blind and visually impaired |
| October 8-9-10, 1917 - The first convention of Lions Clubs was held in Dallas, Texas with 37 delegates in attendance representing twenty-two clubs. By 1953, the association had grown to almost a half-million members with over 8,000 clubs in 46 nations. Today, the number is approximately "1.3 million in over 47,000 clubs located in 202 countries and geographical areas." |
| 1916 - Chicago
businessman, Melvin Jones, began meeting with groups of like-minded
business leaders and local business organizations resulting in the
formation of an association of clubs for the purpose of providing service
to the community. As Melvin Jones famously said, "You can't get very far
until you start doing something for somebody else." A non-profit
corporation was chartered with the name
"The International Association of Lions Clubs." |