In the wake of the First World War, a group of business leaders built an international organization of more than 1,000 local service clubs in less than a decade. It has grown to be one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world.
Lions Club International is made up of more than a million individuals and operates across the globe, including in Quezon City, Philippines. SwarmCheng CC BY-SA 4.0
Origins
The year was 1917 and WWI was raging across much of the planet. The United States had entered the war in April, and the strain of mobilization was already being felt across the nation. People everywhere were feeling a general impulse to “do something.”
This included the owner of an insurance agency in Chicago named Melvin Jones, active in the Business Circle of Chicago, whose personal code was “You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else." He proposed to his group that they combine their talents for the betterment of their community and the world, and they agreed.
Invitations were sent to other business groups around the country, and in June, a preliminary meeting was held with 12 representatives at a hotel in Chicago. At that meeting, the attendees voted to form the “Association of Lions Clubs,” and issued a call for a national convention in Dallas, Texas, for October of that year.
Thirty six delegates of 22 business clubs from nine states attended that convention, and in short order adopted a constitution, by-laws, the Lions Club name and an emblem for their new national group. Dr. William P. Woods of Indiana was elected the first president and Jones the first secretary. The motto of the club was a simple “We serve.”
Membership grew rapidly as new clubs sprouted up across the country, and the club became “International” with the founding of the Windsor, Ontario, Canada Lions Club in 1920. By 1927 there were an astounding 1,183 clubs across the globe with a total membership of some 60,000.
In 1945, Jones attended the United Nations Conference on International Organization as an observer delegate from a non-governmental organization, where he witnessed the drafting of the United Nations Charter.
Today
Lions Club International is a 501(c)4 tax-exempt social welfare organization headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. It has around 1.4 million members worldwide belonging to 46,000 clubs in 200 countries and territories. Membership is invitation only, and every applicant needs to be sponsored by an existing member of the local club they seek to join. A majority of the club’s board of directors must vote to approve each admittance before membership is extended to a sponsored applicant. The Lions are selective because they’re serious about their service credo, and membership entails a financial and time commitment to the mission.
The Lions Clubs International Foundation is the 501(c)3 tax-exempt arm of the organization. It defines itself as “Lions helping Lions serve the world,” and funds large-scale initiatives which are outside of the scope and financial capacity of local group projects.
Local clubs engage in local projects including sponsorship of local speech or essay contests, youth scholarships, town hall public discussions, and the funding of park benches.
The five pillars for national and international programs are: Vision, Hunger, Diabetes, Cancer, and Environment. A specific focus on blindness and vision conservation was inspired by Helen Keller, who addressed the national convention in 1925 and urged the Lions to be the “knights of the blind.”
A notable feature of the Lions is their partnerships with other organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, to better leverage funds and volunteers. Another is the opportunity for leadership and policy roles within the organization, on a par with those in government. A national convention is held annually, in which officers are elected. The head of the international organization oversees a vast network of clubs spanning the globe with a membership of more than a million individuals.
'We Serve'
Seeded by the notion that “You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else," it’s clear Lions Club International has gone far indeed since its founding more than a hundred years ago and continues to do good to this day.
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