The Nahant Lions were Chartered Wednesday, October 20th 1954
and were sponsored by the Wyoma Lions Club of Lynn.
Charter night took place at the Edgehill in in Nahant.
A Litte More about Lions in general.
Melvin Jones was a Chicago businessman who formed Lions Clubs on June 7, 1917. The 12 men gathered voted the Association of Lions Clubs into existence. Later that year in October, the first National Convention was held in Dallas, TX. 36 delegates representing 22 clubs from 9 states elected Dr. William Woods of Indiana as their first President and Melvin Jones was named the acting secretary.
In 1920, the "Association of Lions Clubs" became "International' with the formation of the Windsor, Canada Lions Club.
The countries of China, Mexico, and Cuba joined our forces by 1927, Central and South America in 1935. Lions reached Europe in 1948 as clubs were chartered in Sweden, Switzerland and France. In 1954, the first club in Japan was chartered.
Helen Keller was born physically normal in 1880 in a small town in Alabama. Helen lost her sight and hearing at the age of 19 months to an illness now believe to have been scarlet fever. Five years later, on the advice of Alexander Graham Bell, her parents applied to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston for a teacher. From that school, they hired Anne Sullivan who trained Helen to communicate with the world around her.
She spoke at the Lions International Convention held at Cedar Point, Ohio on June 30, 1925.
Although unable to see her audience or hear their applause, she appealed to the Lions,...
You who have your sight and hearing.
You who are strong and brave and kind.Will you not help me hasten the day
When there shall be no preventable blindness?No deaf blind children untaught.
No blind man or woman unaided.I appeal to you, lions.
You who have your sight and hearing.
You who are strong and brave and kind.Will you not constitute yourselves,
Knights of the blind in this crusade against darkness?
Since that speech, Lions accepted her challenge and have contributed more time and energy to fight blindness than any other organization, foundation or government.
Examples of Lions sight-related projects:
* Braille publishing houses
* Guide dog schools
* Talking books
* Eye Research facilities
* Eye Banks
* SightFirst - Lions conquering preventable and reversible blindness, especially in Third World countries by
* Building over 80 eye clinics and hospitals
* Providing more than 2/5 million cataract surgeries
* Training over 3000 opthamalic personnel
* Providing vitamins to prevent river blindness
Let me tell you about the Lions Banner....
The word LION which you see on the banner stands for Liberty, Intelligence, Our Nation's Safety.
The Lions emblem has two heads....one looking backward to the past where we are proud of our accomplishments, the other looking to the future, where we are confident we will continue to serve our communities and help prevent blindness.
The color purple... is the color of royalty, representing our charitable works, loyalty and integrity.
The color gold...stands for more than financial wealth. It stands for the spiritual wealth to be received by those who serve others.
Since its formation in 1917, Lions Clubs International has grown to become the largest service organization in the world.
Today, there are over 1.4 million Lions worldwide in 186 countries and geographic areas dedicated to community service and helping those with sight and hearing problems.
Lions is a pyramid organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. A new president and directors from around the world are elected each year. Clubs operate within the objects of Lionism but have their own autonomy for projects and donations.
The Nahant Lions Club is in one of the Massachusetts multiple districts - District 33N. There are 5 districts in MA spelling the word YANKS with District Y in the Springfield area, A in central MA, N in the 495 to North Shore area, K in the 495 to Boston area and S in the east of Route 24, southern MA to Cape Cod.
