Who are the Tobyhanna - Newfoundland Lions?

The first meeting of the Tobyhanna-Newfoundland Lions Club was held on April 6, 1951, at the Beechwood House, organized by E.G. Moyer and sponsored by the Stroudsburg Lions Club.

In 1925, Helen Keller addressed the International Convention of Lions with these words:

“Will you not constitute yourselves

Knights of the Blind in this

crusade against darkness?”

The Tobyhanna-Newfoundland Lions actively participated in the SightFirst and SightFirstII campaigns created by the Lions Club International Fund (LCIF).  Since 1990, the SightFirst campaign has prevented serious vision loss for 30 million, provided 131 million treatments for river blindness, restored sight to 7.6 million with cataracts, and improved eye-care services for hundreds of millions through the establishment of facilities, upgrading and staffing centers, and training of medical staff.

We serve the needs of individuals in our community by providing eye exams and eyeglasses for children and adults in need, and help fight blindness on many levels.  We have also pledged to contribute annually to the Leader Dog Program, which provides canine companions to the blind.

The Club has also contributed to national and international efforts, most recently to the 2004 tsunami disaster, hurricane disasters in the U.S. Gulf region, and 2010 Haiti Earthquake relief fund.

Diabetes issues are also one of the areas that the Club concentrates on, as well as the hearing- and mobility-impaired.

Lions are dedicated to our children and our future.  We send young adults to leadership camp, have donated to young adults participating in international events, established Continuing Education Awards, and assist with higher educational pursuits of our children whenever possible.

The Club supports Beacon Lodge, a camp located in Pennsylvania for physically and mentally challenged children and adults.  We also sponsor campers from our area.

Locally, we assist at community events, have funds for a new playground, and participated in the Adopt-A-Road program.  Our Environmental Committee has adopted a road triangle, addressing drainage issues, and planting trees, shrubs, and flowers.

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.