THE LIONS CLUB OF CHARLESTON, WV
Established September 30, 1921, the Lions Club is a non-profit charitable organization with the motto, "We serve as the oldest Lions Club in West Virginia". As the oldest Lions Club in West Virginia, we have seen the growth of Lionism to 140 clubs in our sate in 4 separate jurisdictional areas called "Districts". Our main thrust, since Helen Keller dubbed the Lions "Knights For The Blind" at our 1925 International Convention, has been in the area of sight preservation and restoration.
Most of our past and present members have been business and professional men and women in our community including: Federal Judge Ben Moore; founding president, businessman Dudley L. Sims, Lions International President 1958-1959; education pioneer Harry Brawley; Charleston Mayor D. Boone Dawson, who was responsible for building Kanawha Boulevard; Charleston Mayor and Congressman John Hutchinson; City Manager Hugh Bosely who helped expand the Charleston Civic Center and develop the Town Center, and was mainly responsible in bringing the WVIAC Basketball Tournament to the Civic Center, which our club has sponsored since 1960; and Dr. Charles Byrd, the first African-American WV District Governor; and many others too numerous to mention.
We support the Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation and the Medical Eye Bank of West Virginia. We were the original group who sponsored the high school North-South football game. We supply glasses for school children, have provided scholarships to our local high school graduates and provided funds for a number of youth for summer camp programs. We contribute to international causes such as L.I.C.F. Disaster Fund and Sight First - to fight river blindness in third world areas. We offer assistance for local neediest cases and many more as needs arise.
Charleston Lions Club would welcome the assistance of any who wish to donate monetarily and/or become an active participant in our fellowship and membership.
Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization with more than 1.4 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world.
