Lions Club International & West Goshen Lions Club

Lions Club International was founded early in the 20th century by a Chicago business man, Melvin Jones. He was a member of a group of business people who met regularly for business exchange and support. Mr. Jones thought that this group of influential community leaders should adopt as their purpose, helping less fortunate people. From this idea, the Lions Club was formed. Within seven years there were Lions Clubs in Canada and it became Lions Club International.

Helen Keller was the keynote speaker at the 1925 Lions Club International Convention. She challenged the Lions Club to become “Knights of the Blind”. Since then, the major goal of the Lions is the prevention and cure of blindness. To that end, among other things: we fund fresh water wells in third world countries so people do not have to drink from rivers and contract “river-blindness” which is the single, largest cause of blindness in the third world; we annually donate tens of thousands of eyeglasses to countries and people who would not otherwise have them and insure they are prescribed and fitted; we send teams of surgeons all over the world to perform cataract surgery and train local medical people perform this surgery and provide the materials and supplies needed; we support diabetes awareness and treatment. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. This is the short list.

That's not all we do. Lions Club International workers were among the first on the scene in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, as they are at all major natural disasters. Lions Club International sponsors an international Peace Poster contest among Middle School age children. The winner and his or her family are flown to New York City for an award of a scholarship, presented at the U.N.

Today, Lions Clubs International is the largest service organization in the world with almost 1.4 million members in over 190 countries.
 

West Goshen Lions Club

The West Goshen Lions Club was founded in February, 1972, when 41 charter members were inducted. Today we are 80 members strong and the largest club in our District which comprises Chester and Berks counties. We are proud of the ethnic, religious, vocational, and age diversity of our members. We are a formidable team as we put into action the motto of Lions International: “We Serve.”

Over the past three plus decades we: Purchased Leader Dogs for the blind; continuously support with money and hands-on work, Beacon Lodge in Lewistown PA, a summer camp for blind and deaf children; purchased Titmus Testers (a machine which tests for vision defects) for our local school districts; donated funds to: help get a lift van for a child confined to a wheel chair, buy magnifier readers for people with limited vision, buy Braille writers, prosthetics, hearing aids, and uniforms and equipment for the Boy Scout Troop we sponsor; donated a paint sprayer to Brian's House. And, our direct, personal hands-on contribution of time and effort includes: Bell ringers for the Salvation Army; car-parking team for the Chester County Hospital Spring Fair; transporting the elderly and infirm to doctor's visits and the hospital; cleaning and painting at Community Centers and day-care centers; cleaning and maintaining a walking trail for the blind in a County park; home host a group of Japanese teenagers in alternate years; continuously provide food weekly to Safe Harbor. This is the short list.

We meet the First and Third Saturday of every month at 8:00 a.m. at the Holiday Inn, West Chester PA, South High Street at the Rt. 202/322 on ramp.

We warmly welcome visitors.