CLC Programs & Services

Lions Camp for Children with Disabilities

The Cedarburg Lions Club financially supports the Wisconsin Lions Camp and also sponsors eligible children and adults with disabilities from our area. We serve children and adults who are blind or visually impaired, Deaf or Hard of Hearing, children with intellectual disabilities or educational autism and children with diabetes. The Camp was founded in 1955 in Rosholt, Wisconsin and is administered by the Wisconsin Lions Camp and the Wisconsin Lions Foundation, Inc. serving over 1300 campers a summer. For more info go to Lions Camp

Cedarburg Community Blood Drive

LIC Dennis manages our six drives per year. The club has sponsored this service project for 14+ years. A number of Lions work every drive, many Lions donate blood at almost every drive, and some donate and work. The workers interactions with donors make the drive a very positive experience, which keeps them coming back. Each work shift is 2-1/2 hours.

Club Leadership has approved funding for a free cookout for blood donors and Versiti BC Staff at the June Blood Drives. They have also approved spending funds to purchase some door prizes (to supplement donated prizes) that donors win based on how much they know about blood.

The drive has grown from 42 donors when we began sponsorship to an average of 135 over the last 3-1/2 years despite Covid hurting turnout. We have hosted a total of 9,589 donors as of the end of 2023.

The drive accepts dual red and whole blood donations. This valuable life giving resource provides blood to various recipients in our area and is held on Thursdays from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.at the Ozaukee Pavilion at Firemans Park. See our Events calendar for times and dates. Appointments are not required but are recommended. Call 1-877-BE-A-HERO or visit bcw.edu/cburg for an appointment.

Cedarburg Lions Vision Screening

Lion Ken works regularly with public, private, parochial and Head Start Schools to schedule this service. Lions from Grafton, Cedarburg, and other Lions Clubs help each other with the large events. We generally perform vision screening for children from age three through eighth grade.

Children up through the first grade are screened with an Optix device. Older children are screened using traditional eye charts per medical experts best practice recommendations.

With the Optix device, the child looks into a happy face and the device objectively evaluates their eyesight in 3-5 seconds. If the child does not pass the criteria, the device displays a probable diagnosis of the eye malady or maladies. Referral information is recorded on a form. The school nurse forwards this information to the child’s parents recommending an immediate appointment with an eye care professional.

Our Club has purchased one Optix Device for about $6,000. Lion Doctor Kyle has also purchased an Optix so the Club has access to two for all our screenings. We also borrow additional Optix Devices from within our Regions for large events. This technology is a wonderful improvement which Lions throughout Wisconsin now use regularly.

Multiple parents have personally thanked Lions for identifying their child’s vision issue including a Cedarburg teacher at a recent screening. Another told us that his son hated school, was very grumpy, and didn’t want to read. After getting glasses he has become an energetic reader, is doing well in, and now loves school. Early intervention is critical to moving these children from a failure track to becoming happy and productive.

If your group is interested in our Vision Screening Services, or if you would like more information, contact the vision screening team at clcvisionscreening@gmail.com.

Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin

The Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)3, is a team of professionals and volunteers dedicated to the mission of restoring the Gift of Sight through recovery and transplantation of corneas, research to advance the knowledge and treatment of eye diseases, and education to increase donations of human eyes after death. Our club supports the Lions Eye Bank financially and As Transporters for the Wisconsin Lions Eye Bank, we transport corneas to and from our main medical facility. There, they recover, evaluate, store and distribute human eye tissue for vision restoration, research and education. Eye surgeons rely on eye banks to supply them with tissue for sight-saving procedures. Additional info can be found at LEBW

Wisconsin is the only state in which corneas are transported by volunteers. This saves the Lions Eye Bank and cornea recipients a great deal of money. In other States the State Patrol or paid couriers transport corneas.

Lion Jack organizes the project and prepares schedules including Lions from the Cedarburg and Grafton Clubs. When a person has designated themselves to be an organ donor, the Lions Eye Bank schedules the recovery of the corneas and delivery to secure cold storage at Froedtert or the Lions Eye Bank in Madison. Lions then transport the corneas (packed in containers with dry ice). Many transports are between the Froedtert Wauwatosa Campus to or from Johnson Creek. This is the transfer location for the rest of the journey to or from the Lions Eye Bank in Madison. Other times we deliver directly to a hospital or an eye surgeon’s office.

We provide this service for 10 straight days twice a year. Lions sign up to be “on call” for four hour time blocks starting at 6:00 am and ending at 10:00 pm. Each round trip takes about 3 hours.

We transported 11 boxes of corneal tissue during our June 1-10 duty. As of May 31st, 177 Wisconsin Lions Clubs had completed 1,018 transports!

Lion Chuck has received two corneal implants from the Lions Eye Bank.

Bingo at local Rehab/ Nursing homes

Our Club enjoys hosting Bingo games at the Lasata Senior Living Campus and the Cedar Springs Health and Rehabilitation Center. We visit six times a year bringing a smile on the face of local inhabitants and staff. We are told that the inhabitants look towards our visits. During our 2 to 3 hour visit, we try to entertain the players, even introducing them to some of our pets and young children. It's fun seeing the interactions and knowing that we are making their day.

Partnership with the American Legion Post

Our club has a great partnership with the American Legion Peter Wollner Post 288, where we hold our biweekly meetings during the fall, winter and spring season. The Cedarburg Lions Club supports the The American Legion Legacy Scholarship fund which offers its support to the children of fallen post-9/11 service members through this annual scholarship. It remains our civic duty and a point of pride to ensure these children are able to receive the best education possible after losing a parent in defense of this country. For more information regarding The American Legion Legacy Scholarship, e-mail:scholarships@legion.org. In addition we support their Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, and Wounded Warrior Project .Currently we are supporting their building fund to bring handicap restrooms into their facilities. We use the Post to host our Ice-Berg Open Charity golf outing during Cedarburg's Winter Festival. For more information about the American Legion please visit http://www.cedarburglegion288.org.

Leader Dog

Founded by three Detroit-area Lions Clubs members in 1939, Leader Dogs for the Blind empowers people who are blind, visually impaired or Deaf-Blind with skills for a lifetime of independent travel, opening doors that may seem to have closed with the loss of sight. For more info please go to Leader Dog

BOLD - Blind Outdoor Leisure Development

Our club supports the Southeastern Wisconsin Lions BOLD Inc.is by far the largest and most active BOLD organization in the USA.The organization known as BOLD (Blind Outside Leisure Development) is open to all legally blind people. Event participation is free. BOLD’s purpose is to allow the blind and visually impaired to experience outdoor sports and leisure activities while developing their social and athletic skills. Our club helps funds and also provides transportation to BOLD Members to events. For more info go to BOLD

Cedarburg High School Scholarships

The Cedarburg Lions Club in association with the Cedarburg High School Scholarship Foundation provides three $1000 scholarships each year to deserving graduating seniors . The Lions also provide a sportsman award to the school .

Adult Literacy Program

The Adult Literacy Center of Ozaukee County provides individualized educational services for adult learners to improve academic and life skills in order to pursue their personal, professional, and life goals. Our Lions club supports the center with funding and some individual tutoring. Low literacy often means living in poverty: 6% of Ozaukee County residents live at or below the poverty level. Increasing levels of literacy can free people from poverty and the need for social services leading to improved employment opportunities and self sufficiency. Please visit www.adultliteracyoz.org.

Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts

A major goal of our Club is working with the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts mentoring them and helping them grow. We help fund and work along with their community projects, such as the Eagle Scout Cedar Creek ramp project. Another Eagle Scout project built an eye glass recycling box which is located on the main street in Cedarburg. Scouts come to us every year to discuss local community projects. We help fund Cub Packs #3803 and #3836, Boy Scout Troop #830 and Girl Scout Camper ship