Testimony: Florida Lions Club

Hi.  My name is Bruce Miles. I’m with the Florida Voc Rehab Council for the Blind, as a representative of the Florida’s Lion Club.  I’d like to take a moment of your time to tell you a little bit about Lions Club international.

What is a Lion and what do they do?

Lion’s Club international dates back to 1917 when it begin as a dream of a Chicago insurance man Melton 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.  Soon after the association of Lions Club was born.

Since their humble beginnings, Lion club members have volunteered their time and talents to meet needs wherever they exist.  Lions are especially dedicated to serving the blind and visually impaired as a commitment made after Helen Keller challenged our members to become her "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness" during the 1925 convention in Cedar Point, Ohio.

Since then Lions Club international has grown to become the world’s largest service organization.  Today over 1.3 million men and woman from 200 countries and geographic locations around the world have expanded their focus to help meet the ever increasing needs of our global community.

At a more local level, Florida has 200 hundred Lions Clubs with a current membership of 7100.  One of the greatest things about Lions Club international is that 100 percent of all funds received from the public are returned to the public through community projects and services.

Some of the projects and services funded through the Florida Lions Club are:

  • Provide eye glasses for those in need
  • Provide eye surgery for those who can’t afford it.
  • Provide guide dogs for the blind, at no cost
  • Provide hearing dogs for the deaf, at no cost
  • Provide hearing aids for those who are in need.
  • Provide medicine and food during disasters.
  • Support three eye banks in Florida, over 90 percent worldwide
  • Provide cornea for transplants, over 10,000 in Florida
  • Operate eye and tissue banks, all organs
  • Operate camps for visually impaired children
  • Operate the only school for blind with another disability
  • Support Girl and Boy Scout programs
  • Support and operate a youth drug prevention programs
  • Support recreational programs
  • Operate youth exchange program
  • Support and sponsor little leagues
  • Provide diabetes research
  • Provide screening for glaucoma and diabetes
  • Provide all types of eye testing and screening
  • Operate community health fairs
  • Operate drug training for teachers - Quest
  • Provide services for senior citizens
  • Provide scholarships for worthy students
  • Provide community leader awards, outstanding citizens
  • Operate sight first to eliminate 80 percent of blindness worldwide

The list of services provided by lions clubs goes on and on, as long as there is a need! Thank you.