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HISTORY OF LIONISM
Lions
International was founded in Chicago,
Illinois,
on 7th, June 1917 by Mr. Melvin Jones.
Mr. Melvin Jones was
an Insurance man by profession. He was possessing a caring heart and
burning desire to assist his fellow being in amelioration of their
sufferings.
The first Lions
convention also began to define what Lionism was to become. A
constitution and by-laws were adopted, the colors of purple and gold
approved, and a start made on Lionism's Objectives and Code of
Ethics.
One of the objects was startling for an era that
prided itself on mercenary individualism, and has remained one of
the main tenets of Lionism ever since. "No Club," it read, "shall
hold out the financial betterment of its members as its object."
Later on the message of Lionism was spread in other
countries and today, there are 44,144 clubs in 195 counties and
geographical areas and the present countries and geographical areas
and the present membership is over 1.4 million. Lions
International is the world's largest Service Club organization.
The headquarters of Lions is in the United States of
America and the organization is known as "International
Association of Lions Clubs". Every Club is an independent body,
but for the convenience of centralization and coordination, all the
clubs in an area are grouped. The group is known as a "District". A
District has at least 35 clubs and 1500 members.
It is non-political, non-religious, non-sectarian
organization. It is purely devoted to service of the less fortunate
and under privileged of the Society.
Lions Clubs
are not meant to provide entertainment as it is
commonly under-stood through games, but it provide spiritual
satisfaction through service to fellow beings. It provides an
opportunity to utilize one's free time in serving the fellow beings
and thus have the satisfaction that good deed has been done for the
fellow men and thus paid the rent for the space occupied on the
earth.
The motto of Lions Clubs is "TO SERVE". It
means service above self. Those who have feelings for the less
fortunate and under-privileged members of the Society, may join this
Club to avail an opportunity to serve collectively our own brethren
who are suffering from disease, lake of education, inability to
provide funds for their children to undertake higher studies,
encouraging the young generation to prepare themselves as useful
citizens of our beloved country Pakistan.
Every letter of word "LIONS" carries meaning,
"L" stands for Liberty,
"I" stands for Intelligence and
"ONS" means Our Nation's Safety.
A Lions Club does not necessarily have its own office
premises. Usually, the office of the President and/or Secretary for
the year is used as an office of the Club.
A Lions club is formed with at least 20 members in
the beginning, they are called the "CHARTER MEMBERS". Those who
become members later on are known as "Members" only. However, there
is no difference in the rights, privileges and obligations between
the "Chartered and n Ordinary Member", membership of this
organization is by INVITATION only. No one can become direct member
by expressing his wish to be a member.
Every Lions Club collects its own funds and spends on
the projects approved by the same club. For a good active Club, it
is essential to have atleast one running Permanent Project, which
will bound down the interest of the members and have a sense of
responsibility to run same successfully.
The International Association of Lions Clubs is the
largest non-governmental organization associated with the United
Nations and was called upon by the United Nations and the World
Health Organization to raise funds for an international program of
sight conservation. It has been estimated that 40 million cases of
curable and preventable blindness exist on this planet today.
Without intervention, this is projected to become 80 million by the
end of the decade.
Each year Lions club members from more than 100
countries come together for the Lions International Convention. For
the week of June 30 - July 4 in Denver Colorado, Lions will conduct
association business, share fellowship and enjoy the sights of an
international city.
Typically attended by nearly 20,000 Lions and their
family members, the Lions International Convention is one of the
largest annual gatherings of its kind in the world.
The Lions International Headquarters is in Oak Brook,
Illinois, USA.
You can contact Lions Clubs International as follows:
Lions Clubs
International
300 W. 22nd Street
Oak Brook, IL
USA. 60523-8842
Telephone: (+ 1 630) 571-5466
Fax: (+ 1 630) 571-8890
Email:
lions@lionsclubs.org
WWW:
http://www.lionsclubs.org |
