Locally each June, the 18 members of the Hiawatha Club organize and facilitate the organized chaos and transformation of Guthridge Park into the fun filled events of Hog Wild Days.  The bigger picture however is that we are one group of an international network of 1.3 million men and women in 201 countries.  First organized in 1917 in Chicago, the Club leaders were challenged by Helen Keller in a 1920 speech to become “Knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness”.  The leaders listened and took up the cause to work to end preventable blindness.  The Lions "Sightfirst" program, as it’s known more recently, supports cataract surgeries, helps build or expand hospitals and clinics and in a partnership with the World Health Organization launched the world’s first ever global initiative to combat childhood blindness.  Since 1989, Lions have impacted the lives of 71 million children worldwide.

    Closer to home you may not be aware of the Iowa Eye Center in Iowa City which works to match organ donors for cornea transplant and collect eyes for research, or the Leader Dog School at Rockwell City Correctional Facility which provide initial training to puppies that one day may go to Rochester, MI to complete training as working Leader Dogs.  Even more locally you might know someone that needs assistance to get new glasses or has a few old pairs of eye glasses to be recycled into new eyeglasses and used in a foreign country by less fortunate people.  You might even hear about a local Club holding sight screening at your child’s or grandchild’s preschool, if so, don’t be shy, they’re just doing what Lions do best.

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This site was last updated 03/30/08