Lions Club International

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Lions Clubs International logo

Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization with 45,000 clubs and nearly 1.35 million members in 200 countries around the world. Its motto is "We Serve". The international headquarters is situated in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States.

Lions Clubs International was founded in the United States in 1917 by Melvin Jones.^[1] A former Freemason,^[2] Jones once said "You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else."

Membership is by invitation and attendance at meetings is expected on a monthly or fortnightly basis. Lions are a community-based organization with a hierarchy that can take a member from a club to office at zone, district, national (also known as multiple district) and international levels. All funds raised by Lions Clubs from the general public are used for charitable purposes, with administration costs kept strictly separate and paid for by members.

Lions Clubs International originally consisted of all-male membership. Over recent years many clubs have admitted women, but some all-male clubs still exist. In 2003 half of the male members at the Lions Club in Worcester, England resigned when a woman joined the club.^[3]

Charitable work

Lions plaque posted a location where a local club meets

Much of the focus of Lions Clubs International work as a service club organization is to raise money for good causes. Some of this money is used to benefit the local community of an individual club. Examples include donations to local hospices,^[4] or community campaigns such a Message in a bottle, a United Kingdom initiative which places a plastic bottle with critical medical information inside the refrigerators of vulnerable people.^[5] Money is also raised for international purposes. Some of this is donated in reaction to events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Other money is used to support international campaigns, coordinated by the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), such as Sight First and Lions World Sight Day, which was launched in 1998 and draws world media attention to the plight of sight loss in the third world.^[6] Lions work for the blind and visually impared began when Helen Keller addressed the International Convention at Cedar Point, Ohio on 30 June 1925 and charged Lions to be Knights to the Blind.

Lions also have a strong commitment to community hearing- and cancer-screening projects. In Perth, Western Australia, they have conducted hearing screening for over 30 years, and provided seed funding for the Lions Ear and Hearing Institute instituted September 9 2001, a center of excellence in the diagnosis, management and research of ear and hearing disorders.^[7] In Perth, the Lions have also been instrumental in the institute of the Lions Eye Institute. In Brisbane, Queensland the Lions Medical Research Foundation provides seed funding to a number of researchers. Prof. Ian Frazer's initial work, leading to the development of a HPV vaccine for cervical cancer, was funded by the Lions Medical Research Foundation.

Lions Clubs International has had a history of support for the work of the United Nations since that organization's inception in 1945, when it was one of the non-governmental organizations invited to assist in the drafting of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, California.

Spread of Lionism

For a list of Lions Club branches see Category:Lions Club Branches

The organization became truly international on 12 March 1920, when the first club in Canada was established in Windsor, Ontario. Since then Lions Clubs have spread across the globe. Listed below are some of the key dates:

1917 United States of America
1920 Canada
1926 China (Tianjin)
1927 Mexico (Nuevo Laredo)
1927 Cuba (Havana)
1950 Finland
1952 Brazil
1955 Hong Kong and Macau (Hong Kong Island)
1963 Turkey On 4 January 1963 with Law 3512 signed by President Cemal Gürsel
2002 People's Republic of China (Guangdong and Shenzhen, chartered on May 14 2002 are the first international service clubs to be granted permission by the government of the PRC to operate in mainland China)

International Convention

The Lions hold an annual international convention in cities across the globe to meet other Lions, elect the coming year's officers, and partake in the many activities planned. At the convention, Lions can participate in elections and parades, display and discuss fundraisers and service projects, and trade pins and other souvenirs. The first convention was held in 1917 in Dallas, Texas, the first year of the club's existence. The 2006 convention was due to be held in New Orleans, but damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina meant that the convention had to be relocated to Boston.^[8]

Some past convention locations include:

90th 2007 Chicago, Illinois, USA
89th 2006 Boston, Massachusetts, USA
88th 2005 Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
87th 2004 Detroit, Michigan, USA
86th 2003 Denver, Colorado, USA
85th 2002 Osaka, Japan
84th 2001 Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
83rd 2000 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
82nd 1999 San Diego, California, USA
81st 1998 Birmingham, United Kingdom
80th 1997 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
79th 1996 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
78th 1995 Seoul, South Korea
77th 1994 Phoenix, Arizona, USA
76th 1993 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
75th 1992 Hong Kong
35th 1952 Mexico City, Mexico

Lions Band

Many clubs sponsor a Lions Band to participate and compete in the International Lions Parade at the International Convention. The parade champions for 25 years between 1951 and 2007 were the Lions Band from Mississippi, USA. Mississippi Lion's All State Band has won the last 5 championships in a row.