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For
the official Lions Clubs International web site (www.lionsclubs.org),
please click here.
LIONS CLUB INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION*
We Serve - Nearly 1.35 million
Lions members in 194 countries and geographic areas answer the
needs that challenge the communities of the world. Lions tackle
tough problems like blindness, drug abuse prevention and diabetes
awareness.
Global neighbors - Lions members
- men and women - provide immediate and sustained relief in time
of disaster and offer long-term assistance to those in need.
Lions collect and recycle eyeglasses for distribution in developing
countries and treat millions of people to prevent river blindness.
Community Leaders - Lions improve
the quality of life in their local communities by building parks,
supporting hospitals and establishing water treatment programs.
For 85 years, whenever there
is a need at home or around the world, Lions members are there
to help - We Serve.
Lions Clubs International History
The International Association
of Lions Clubs began as the dream of Chicago businessman Melvin
Jones. He believed that local business clubs should expand their
horizons from purely professional concerns to the betterment
of their communities and the world at large.
- Photo of Melvin Jones - Founder
of Lions Clubs International.
Jones' group, the Business Circle
of Chicago, agreed. After contacting similar groups around the
United States, an organizational meeting was held on June 7,
1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The new group took the name of
one of the invited groups, the "Association of Lions Clubs,"
and a national convention was held in Dallas, Texas, USA in October
of that year. A constitution, by-laws, objects and code of ethics
were approved.
Among the objects adopted in
those early years was one that read, "No club shall hold
out the financial betterment of its members as its object."
This call for unselfish service to others remains one of the
association's main tenets.
Just three years after its formation,
the association became international when the first club in Canada
was established in 1920. Major international expansion continued
as clubs were established, particularly throughout Europe, Asia
and Africa during the 1950s and '60s.
In 1925, Helen Keller addressed
the Lions international convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, USA.
She challenged Lions to become "knights of the blind in
the crusade against darkness." From this time, Lions clubs
have been actively involved in service to the blind and visually
impaired.
Broadening its international
role, Lions Clubs International helped the United Nations form
the Non-Governmental Organizations sections in 1945 and continues
to hold consultative status with the U.N.
In 1990, Lions launched its most
aggressive sight preservation effort, SightFirst. The US$143.5
million program strives to rid the world of preventable and reversible
blindness by supporting desperately needed health care services.
In addition to sight programs,
Lions Clubs International is committed to providing services
for youth. Lions clubs also work to improve the environment,
build homes for the disabled, support diabetes education, conduct
hearing programs and, through their foundation, provide disaster
relief around the world.
Lions Clubs International has
grown to include 1.4 million men and women in 46,000 clubs located
in 194 countries and geographic areas.
Lions Clubs International Purposes
- To Create and foster a spirit
of understanding among the peoples of the world.
- To Promote the principles of
good government and good citizenship.
- To Take an active interest in
the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of the community.
To Unite the clubs in the bonds of friendship, good fellowship
and mutual understanding.
- To Provide a forum for the open
discussion of all matters of public interest; provided, however,
that partisan politics and sectarian religion shall not be debated
by club members.
- To Encourage service-minded
people to serve their community without personal financial reward,
and to encourage efficiency and promote high ethical standards
in commerce, industry, professions, public works and private
endeavors.
Lions Clubs International Code of Ethics
- To Show my faith in the worthiness
of my vocation by industrious application to the end that I may
merit a reputation for quality of service.
- To Seek success and to demand
all fair remuneration or profit as my just due, but to accept
no profit or success at the price of my own self-respect lost
because of unfair advantage taken or because of questionable
acts on my part.
- To Remember that in building
up my business it is not necessary to tear down another's; to
be loyal to my clients or customers and true to myself.
- Whenever a doubt arises as to
the right or ethics of my position or action towards others,
to resolve such doubt against myself.
- To Hold friendship as an end
and not a means.
- To hold that true friendship
exists not on account of the service performed by one another,
but that true friendship demands nothing but accepts service
in the spirit in which it is given.
- Always to bear in mind my obligations
as a citizen to my nation, my state, and my community, as to
give them my unswerving loyalty in word, act, and deed. To give
them freely of my time, labor and means.
- To Aid others by giving my sympathy
to those in distress, my aid to the weak, and my substance to
the needy.
- To Be Careful with my criticism
and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy.
For
more information about Lions Clubs International, please visit
their official web site (www.lionsclubs.org) by clicking here.
* = Source: Lions Club International
Web Site: www.lionsclubs.org.
Graphic showing the following:
1- MISSION STATEMENT- To create and foster a spirit of understanding
among all people for humanitarian needs by providing voluntary
services through community involvement and international cooperation.
2- MOTTO- We Serve
3- SLOGAN- Liberty, Intelligence, Our Nation's Safety
4- EMBLEM.
Lions Club International Web
Site Links:The unparalleled tsunami disaster in South Asia that
has led to an unprecedented Lions Clubs International and LCIF
initiative supporting rebuilding of communities.
BANNER
LINK: Click here to learn more about the Lions Clubs International
organization. The graphic has the Lions Club Emblem on it and
the words Lions Clubs International.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF). LCIF is
the grant-making arm of Lions Clubs International. The graphic
has the Lions Club Emblem on it, the initials LCIF and the words
Lions Clubs International Foundation.
BANNER
LINK: Click here to learn more about the unparalleled tsunami
disaster in South Asia that has led to an unprecedented Lions
Clubs International and LCIF initiative supporting rebuilding
of communities.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about 2005-2006 Lions Clubs International President Ashok Mehta
and his theme Motivating Lions with a Passion To Excel. The graphic
the words Passion To Excel 2005-2006 International Program -
under those words is a blazing orange and yellow sun burst with
the Lions Club Emblem in the middle, the words Passion To Excel
and the and the years 2005-2006.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about Graphic showing the the 89th Annual Lions Clubs International
Convention being held in Boston, Massachusetts in 2006.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about Strides - Lions Walk for Diabetes Awareness. The graphic
has the words Strides - Lions Walk for Diabetes Awareness and
shows a Lion walking.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more about the
USA/Canda Leadership Forum to be held in Columbus, Ohio from
September 14 to 16, 2006. Image shows the USA and Canada Flags,
the words USA/CANADA LIONS LEASERSHIP FORUM and the Lions Clubs
International Emblem.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International Eye Banks Program. The graphic
has the Lions Club Emblem on it, a sphere and the words Lions
Eye Banks.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International Recycle For Sight Program.
The graphic has a pair of eyeglasses with a sphere in the left
lens and the words Lions Recycle for Sight.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International SightFirst Program. The graphic
has the Lions Club Emblem on it, an earth globe with ray of sun
over it, the words Lions Conquering Blindness and the word SightFirst.
BANNER
LINK: Click here to learn more about the Lions Clubs International
Campaign SightFirst II. The graphic has the Lions Club Emblem
on it, a red sun burst, the words Campaign SightFirst II, Lions
Vison For All.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International World Sight Day. The graphic
has on it an earth globe and the words World Sight Day.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International Worldwide Induction Day.
The graphic has on it an earth globe, eight people under the
globe and the words Lions Worldwide Induction Day.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International New Century Lions Clubs.
The graphic has the Lions Club Emblem on it, the words New Century
Lions Clubs.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International Leo Clubs. The graphic has
the two Lions heads looking in opposite directions - left and
right - on it, a red sun burst, the word LEO.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn more
about the Lions Clubs International Lions Environmental Photo
Contest. The graphic has a green colored camera on it, and the
words Lions Environmental Photo Contest.
BANNER LINK: Click here to learn about
the 88th Annual Lions Clubs International Convention in Hong
Kong. The logo has the Lions Club Emblem on it and a multi-colored
skyline view of Hong Kong and the year 2005. |