- Who We Are - Our Service - Our History
- Lions Club International - Vision, Mission and Purpose
- Lions Code of Ethics
- Helen Kellers Message to Lions
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Lions Memorial Community Park, Massanutten VA
Who we are!
The McGaheysville-Massanutten Lions Club is located in Massanutten, VA. Our Lions Club members are goal oriented and ready to make a difference. We are always looking for others who share our commitment. We are involved in many projects that we feel passionate about, and are always ready to improve the lives of those less fortunate. Our Lions are women and men dedicated to making our community, our nation and the world a better place to live in.
We are proud to be part of the world’s largest service organization and an international network of over one million women and men in two hundred countries working together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world. We are known for working to end preventable blindness but we also participate in a variety of projects important to communities. These projects range from cleaning up local roads to providing supplies to victims of natural disasters. We are good friends and good neighbors, doing good things to help others.
Our Service:
We serve by having our members define community needs, volunteer their time and effort through service work and fundraising activities, provide direct financial assistance to charitable organizations, foster understanding among all people, and cooperate with other Lions Clubs to provide needed services.
Our Club History:
The name McGaheysville-Massanutten Lions Club was chosen for the new club because most of the new members came from an area referred to as Massanutten Village and the McGaheysville Post Office serves this area. The McGaheysville-Massanutten Lions Club service area is the eastern part of Rockingham County including activities in the city of Harrisonburg. As the McGaheysville-Massanutten Lion Club grew, so did the physical area and the number of people that we serve.
In 1993, the McGaheysville-Massanutten Lions Club started with 35 Members. As of October 2018, the club membership has 51 members.
Lions Club International:
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"You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else."
Melvin Jones
Lions Clubs International Mission And Purposes:
Mission Statement
TO EMPOWER volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding through Lions clubs.
Purposes
TO ORGANIZE, CHARTER AND SUPERVISE service clubs to be known as Lions clubs.
TO COORDINATE the activities and standardize the administration of Lions clubs.
TO CREATE AND FOSTER a spirit of understanding among the peoples of the world.
TO PROMOTE the principles of good government and good citizenship.
TO TAKE an active interest in the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of the community.
TO UNITE the clubs in the bonds of friendship, good fellowship and mutual understanding.
TO PROVIDE a forum for the open discussion of all matters of public interest; provided, however, that partisan politics and sectarian religion shall not be debated by club members.
TO ENCOURAGE service-minded people to serve their community without personal financial reward, and to encourage efficiency and promote high ethical standards in commerce, industry, professions, public works and private endeavors.
Lions Clubs International Code of Ethics
TO SEEK success and TO DEMAND all fair remuneration or profit as my just due, but TO ACCEPT NO PROFIT OR SUCCESS at the price of my own self-respect lost because of unfair advantage taken or because of questionable acts on my part.
TO REMEMBER that in building up my business it is not necessary to tear down another's; to be loyal to my clients or customers and true to myself.
WHENEVER a doubt arises as to the right or ethics of my position or action towards others, TO RESOLVE such doubt against myself.
TO HOLD friendship as an end and not a means. TO HOLD that true friendship exists not on account of the service performed by one another, but that true friendship demands nothing but accepts service in the spirit in which it is given.
ALWAYS TO BEAR in mind my obligations as a citizen to my nation, my state, and my community, as TO GIVE them my unswerving loyalty in word, act, and deed. TO GIVE them freely of my time, labor and means.
TO AID others by giving my sympathy to those in distress, my aid to the weak, and my substance to the needy.
TO BE CAREFUL with my criticism and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy.
Helen Keller’s Message
The process that lead to the Lions Clubs Sight First Program began long ago when Helen Keller challenged Lions Clubs to be "Knights of the Blind". The text which follows is Helen Keller's speech at the 1925 Lions Clubs International Convention at Cedar Point, Ohio USA on June 30, 1925.
"Dear Lions and Ladies: I suppose you have heard the legend that represents opportunity as a capricious lady, who knocks at every door but once, and if the door isn't opened quickly, she passes on, never to return. And that is as it should be. Lovely, desirable ladies won't wait.
You have to go out and grab 'em!
I am your opportunity. I am knocking at your door. I want to be adopted. The legend doesn't say what you are to do when several beautiful opportunities present themselves at the same door. I guess you have to choose the one you love best. I hope you will adopt me. I am the youngest here, and what I offer you is full of splendid opportunities for service.
The American Foundation for the Blind is only four years old. It grew out of the imperative needs of the blind, and was called into existence by the sightless themselves. It is national and international in scope and in importance. It represents the best and most enlightened thought on our subject that has been reached so far. Its object is to make the lives of the blind more worthwhile everywhere by increasing their economic value and giving them the joy of normal activity.
Try to imagine how you would feel if you were suddenly stricken blind today. Picture yourself stumbling and groping at noonday as in the night; your work, your independence, gone. In that dark world wouldn't you be glad if a friend took you by the hand and said, "Come with me and I will teach you how to do some of the things you used to do when you could see"? That is just the kind of friend the American Foundation is going to be to all the blind in this country if seeing people will give it the support it must have.
You have heard how through a little word dropped from the fingers of another, a ray of light from another soul touched the darkness of my mind and I found myself, found the world, found God. It is because my teacher learned about me and broke through the dark, silent imprisonment which held me that I am able to work for myself and for others. It is the caring we want more than money. The gift without the sympathy and interest of the giver is empty. If you care, if we can make the people of this great country care, the blind will indeed triumph over blindness.
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?
I thank you."
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.
