Giving back to Charity

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When Seeds Grow they Become a Garden

1925 Helen Keller's remarks to LIONS

The opportunity I bring to you, Lions, is this: To foster and sponsor the work of the American Foundation for the Blind. Will you not help me hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness; no little deaf, blind child untaught; no blind man or woman unaided? I appeal to you Lions, you who have your sight, your hearing, you who are strong and brave and kind. Will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in this crusade against darkness?

These are some of the moving words of Helen Keller that shaped the Lions to this day. Back when Keller spoke the Lions were a young organization of only 8 years. Lions was founded by Mr. Melvin Jones, a successful businessman from Chicago. He inspired others to become civic minded. At first there were only a few and in only eight years Lions were sought out by Helen Keller. Continuing to grow in 1945 Jones was asked to be a Lions consultant to the United Nations.

Thus, the seed he planted was born as a question. He asked what would happen if those

who are successful because of their drive, intelligence and ambition, were to put their talents to work improving their communities?

The answer today is that Lions has grown to be the largest organization of its kind. It is a  fertile international garden today comprised of 1.4 million men and women dedicated to social action and community service.

With this great legacy it is very meaningful for me to be recognized by Lions as a recipient of the Melvin Jones Award. I hope I am able to live up to the greatness achieved by Melvin Jones.

Thanks to my club for all of their support and especially to Lions Michael and Tammy Hsing who first introduced and later invited us to become members.

President's blog

Hello Everyone,

I am fortunate enough to be president of a great not-for-profit organization comprised of dedicated volunteers. We all share a common vision of being able to use some of our precious personal time to do good deeds. As LIONS we are part of the largest service organization in the world. There are over 1.4 Million LIONS in 204 different countries.http://www.facebook.com/lionsclubs.

We organize service in four main communities: Vision, Hunger, Environment and Youth. As president I have found the LIONS to be a great source of motivation to get involved. I am proud how much our club has done in the last five months. We have screened many seniors for vision at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, we have invited local students to enter our annual Peace Poster contest, we have honored the memory of our local Raritan NJ World War II hero John Basilone by marching this September in the annual John Basilone parade, we have provided lots of food to our local food bank. We have also met as a group many times to plan our activities and enjoy each other's company. We have already attracted many new members and raised thousands of dollars for LIONS service.

At present we are readying ourselves for a major event in our Local Bridgewater NJ Community. On November 30, 2010 we will be at the Bridgewater Senior Center providing eye screenings as well as two major surprises that we are sure the seniors will love and be touched by. I will share more about that after the event.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and the photos. A more complete compilation of our Club's activities can be found on our Facebook page. I invite to become a FRIEND.http://www.facebook.com/lionsclubs#!/pages/Bridgewater-NJ-Lions-District-16D/155295417824944

Sincerely,

Daniel Prince,
President
Bridgewater NJ  USA LIONS District 16 D