The Dandridge Lions Club is Active in the Community
Sponsors
Thanks go out to the many Local businesses on being a sponsor of this event every year that benefits both your business and the charitable activities of the Dandridge Lions Club.
UT Football Ticket Raffle
Each year the Dandridge Lions Club raffles off two season tickets to the University of Tennesseee football games. Only 500 tickets are sold at $10 each. Drawing will be held approximately one week before first game. To purchase tickets please contact Steve Crooke at 865-440-6933.
Each year, the Dandridge Lions Club selects deserving high school students in our service area to receive a scholarship for their continuing education. Amounts may vary from year to year but are usually in the range of $750 to $1000. Selections are based on community service, academic achievement and financial need. LEO members receive special consideration to encourage their participation in Lions activities.
Again this year for Christmas we are giving back to the community that supported us during the year. We are delivering food boxes to an average of 29 families and will take apporximately 21 children shopping. We do this every year and all the members of our Club will be helping in one way or another. We look forward to this every year. Come join our Club and help us do these things. We are a working Club.
Eye Screening
Eighty percent of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured. The first step to prevention is awareness. The second is early detection through vision screening. The Dandridge Lions partner with medical professionals and community leaders to screen young children and primary school students to identify those at risk for vision loss. The venue for Lions’ vision screenings occur at local schools. Early identification leads to timely referral, professional treatment, and improved or restored sight.
For more information, please contact:
Richard Walker
(865) 924-3730
walke53@live.com
Eye Exams/Glasses
Deserving residents in our service area can apply for assistance in obtaining eye exams and a new pair of glasses from local providers. Applications can be obtained at JeffCo Drugs in Dandridge. After completing the application, return the form to JeffCo where it will be collected and processed by a Lions Club member. Many have benefitted by this service. The Lions Club also pays for a limited number of cataract surgeries for those in need.
For more information, please contact:
David Poehler
(865) 484-0299
dlpoehler@gmail.com
Refractive errors can be easily corrected with eyeglasses, yet millions living in low and middle income countries lack access to basic eye care services. Lions have recognized the urgent need for corrective lenses and collect usable glasses in their communities to support the Lions Recycle For Sight Program. Spectacles receptacles are located at various sites including JeffCo Drugs. The used glasses cannot be used in the US but are a great benefit to needy people in other countries.
The LEO organization is sponsored by the Lions and helps prepare students for a life of service. Currently two clubs are supported - one at Maury Middle School in Dandridge and one at Jefferson County High School.
For more information, please contact:
Peggy Chandler
(865) 397-2038
peggyandtom03@yahoo.com
The Lions Clubs of East Tennessee conduct “White Cane Days” each year to raise funds that support these Lions projects:
- Childhood Cancer – An initiative to expand access to life-saving treatment and provide support to the children and families who face childhood cancers.
- Diabetes Awareness – A program designed to bring awareness of Juvenile and Adult diabetes; early detection and treatment for a disease that is the number one cause of blindness within the USA.
- East Tennessee Lions Eye Bank (ETLEB) – A Knoxville clearinghouse between persons donating their eyes after death and the recipients of corneal transplants. ETLEB has been ranked within the top ten in the world.
- Lions Volunteer Blind Industries (LVBI) – An agency providing rehabilitation services, employment and training opportunities for hundreds of blind East Tennesseans annually.
- Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) – Learning Ally records printed texts for educational and personal pursuits providing classroom material for student with print disabilities.
- Leader Dogs for the Blind – This agency provides guide dogs for blind persons at no cost, aiding the recipients in their mobility and independence. Several local Lions raise puppies to become leader dogs.
- Lions Quest – A comprehensive youth development program involving home, school and community which helps to cultivate strong character in healthy young people through life skills education.
- Tennessee School for the Blind (TSB) – A state-operated school for visually impaired children located near Nashville providing educational opportunities through 12th grade. Lions fund the Boy and Girl Scout troops and provide $50.00 for each student at Christmas.
- Tennessee School for the Deaf (TSD) – A state-operated school for children with hearing impairments located in Knoxville providing educational opportunities through 12th grade. Lions help fund personal needs for some students and the summer camp programs that are not state funded.
- The Hearing & Speech Foundation – Empowering individuals with communication deficits to live their lives to the fullest by giving children and adults the gift of sound through hearing aids and services.
- World Services for the Blind – A comprehensive rehabilitation center for blind adults that provides counseling for emotional and psychological adjustments to blindness as well as vocational training.
LVBI Support
LIONS VOLUNTEER BLIND INDUSTRIES
Lions Volunteer Blind Industries is a nonprofit organization that has been providing employment opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired since 1951. We have operations in Morristown and Johnson City, Tennessee.
LVBI employees gain a sense of purpose through the work that is performed. Our employees are not only proud of the work, but also take pride in knowing that many of the products manufactured at LVBI are used by the U.S. Military. In this photo, we see an employee pause to smile for the camera as he works. More information is available at lvbi.org.
SafeSpace
SafeSpace, formerly known as the Cosby Coalition Against Domestic Violence, started as a grassroots organization serving battered women and their children in a mountainous Appalachian region of East Tennessee.
The group began as an informal network of women helping women in 1976 by providing shelter for victims of domestic violence in their own homes. In 1979 the group organized itself into a task force and in 1981 incorporated as a non-profit, charitable organization. In 1983, SafeSpace accepted an offer of free office space in the City Hall of Newport and the first staff was hired. The shelter was opened on June 25, 1985. The day after the shelter opened, seven women and their ten children were sheltered and it has remained busy since that time. In January of 1986 the board of directors decided to purchase the shelter which was referred to as SafeSpace and eventually the agency changed its original name from the Cosby Coalition Against Domestic Violence to SafeSpace.
SafeSpace was an active and integral part of the movement to end domestic violence from the movement's infancy, especially in the state of Tennessee. SafeSpace was one of the founding members of the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
It was a SafeSpace that secured the first rural order of protection in this state. SafeSpace is now considered to be a model for rural shelter services in the state. More information at www.safespacetn.org.
