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It is the vision of the MU Lions Club (chartered May 2014) to foster a sense of community between the Mizzou family and the citizens of Columbia and to instill in Mizzou students the importance of giving something back. 

 

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We Serve

 
 
  • Sight conservation and work with the visually impaired
  • Hearing conservation and work with the hearing impaired
  • Citizenship, education, health and social services
  • Youth programs including drug education and prevention, community outreach and volunteer programs
  • Diabetes detection and research
  • Work for international cooperation and understanding, including international youth camps, youth exchange programs and Lions International Peace Poster Contest.
  • Mission trips

Whenever a Lions club gets together, problems get smaller. And communities get better. That's because we help where help is needed – in our own communities and around the world – with unmatched integrity and energy.

The World's Largest Service Club Organization

Our 46,000 clubs and 1.35 million members make us the world's largest service club organization. We're also one of the most effective. Our members do whatever is needed to help their local communities. Everywhere we work, we make friends. With children who need eyeglasses, with seniors who don’t have enough to eat and with people we may never meet.

More Volunteers Doing More Community Work in More Places than Any Service Club Organization.

When it comes to meeting challenges, our response is simple: We serve. In over 200 countries, in hospitals and senior centers, in regions battered by natural disaster, in schools and eyeglass recycling centers, Lions are doing community volunteer work, helping, leading, planning and supporting.  Because we're local, we can serve the unique needs of the communities we live in. And because we're global, we can address challenges that go beyond borders.

We want everyone to see a better tomorrow. That's why we support sight programs and services including vision screenings, eye banks and eyeglass recycling. Provide eye care services to those at risk of losing their sight. And raise donations through campaigns like SightFirst and Campaign SightFirst II.

We believe everyone deserves a healthy life. From providing health programs that focus on hearing loss to supporting efforts to control and prevent diabetes, Lions volunteers are working to improve the health of children and adults around the world.

We empower the next generation. Whether it's providing youth volunteer opportunities and leadership experiences in a Leo club or sharing a message of peace through our Peace Poster contest, our youth programs invest in the future by reaching out to young people.

We serve local communities – and protect the planet.  From performing hands-on community work and service projects to providing emergency assistance, our community and environment programs improve our communities – and protect the environment.

There are many ways to get involved.  Here are just a few of the many opportunities to do volunteer community work when you join the Lions:

 
   

 

•Community projects

•Group volunteer opportunities

•Become a host family

•Community disaster preparedness

•Diabetes awareness

•Global health programs

 

 

Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization. We have 1.35 million members in more than 46,000 clubs worldwide.

Lions are everywhere. We're men and women who are active in community projects in more than 208 countries and geographic areas.

Lions have a dynamic history. Founded in 1917, we are best known for fighting blindness – it's part of our history as well as our work today. But we also perform volunteer work for many different kinds of community projects – including caring for the environment, feeding the hungry and aiding seniors and the disabled.

Local Community Projects

Lions are active. Our motto is "We Serve." Lions are part of a global service network, doing whatever is necessary to help our local communities.

Lions give sight. By conducting vision screenings, equipping hospitals and clinics, distributing medicine and raising awareness of eye disease, Lions work toward their mission of providing vision for all. We have extended our commitment to sight conservation through countless local community projects and through our international SightFirst Program, which works to eradicate blindness.

  • In the Fall of 2020, MU Campus Lions Club has partnered with KidSight, KidSight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides free vision screenings for children. The program was founded in St. Louis, Missouri in 1995 with a handful of volunteers screening a few hundred children a year. Today, KidSight’s program has grown to screen the vision of more than 67,000 kids throughout Missouri each year with the help of trained staff and volunteers operating across the state. 
  • Because as much as 80 percent of learning in early childhood occurs through the eyes, healthy vision is important for children’s early development. KidSight’s screenings detect vision problems early and the program helps parents get their children treatment before it’s too late to avoid the permanent vision loss that can result from some eye conditions. By ensuring kids have healthy vision, we can prevent what could be a lifetime of vision loss and help children be ready to learn in school.

Lions serve youth. Our community projects often support local children and schools through scholarships, recreation and mentoring. Internationally, we offer many programs, including the Peace Poster Contest, Youth Camps and Exchange and Lions Quest. And our Leo Program provides personal development through youth volunteer opportunities. There are approximately 144,000 Leos and 5,700 Leo clubs in more than 140 countries worldwide.

KidSight

Lions award grants. Since 1968, the Lions Clubs International Foundation has awarded more than US$700 million in grants to support Lions humanitarian community projects around the world. Together, our Foundation and Lions are helping communities following natural disasters by providing for immediate needs such as food, water, clothing and medical supplies – and aiding in long-term reconstruction.

MU Campus Lions Club was featured in the Maneater. See what Former President Aaron Welker has to say about us below!

When current senior Aaron Welker went to one of MU’s activity fairs during his freshman year, he was looking for an organization that would help him achieve what he says he wants more than anything: to make a direct impact on his community.

He knew immediately that MU Campus Lions Club — the university’s chapter of Lions Clubs International, which has more than 46,000 clubs in 210 countries — was the right place for him.

The organization does a monthly service project, either on campus or in the community, and members decide where the group should spend its time.

“In addition to local opportunities such as volunteering at the Special Olympics, sorting glasses for Saving Sight, and fundraising for Adopt a Family, members also have the opportunity to attend various LCIF conferences throughout the US and participate in life-changing mission trips abroad,” he said in an email.

Now the president of the organization, Welker values not only the service opportunities, but the club’s focus on adapting to its members’ ideas.

“Our service projects are all proposed and planned by our members, meaning that anything is open for suggestion,” Welker said in an email. “... The club is able to bend and change based on the vision of its members, and freshmen will be able turn their visions into a reality.”

To learn more about this organization, visit its Facebook page or the MU Campus Lions Club page on OrgSync.

Click here to read the full "Which student organization is right for you?" article

 

Special Olympics Spring Games

The Special Olympics Spring Games were at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia. The Lions Club volunteered to help

with making sack lunches for the Special Olympians and their buddies. This was a great opportunity to help in the community as well as meet other Lions. Below are some pictures of the event: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out our calendar page for upcoming events!

 

 

History of the Lions Club

Beginning in 1917...

Melvin Jones, a 38-year-old Chicago business leader, asked a simple and world-changing question – what if people put their talents to work improving their communities? Almost 100 years later, Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization, with 1.35 million members in more than 46,000 clubs and countless stories of Lions acting on the same simple idea: let's improve our communities.

1920: Going International

Just three years after our founding, Lions became international when we established the first club in Canada. Mexico followed in 1927. In the 1950s and 1960s international growth accelerated, with new clubs in Europe, Asia and Africa.

1925: Eradicating Blindness

Helen Keller addressed the Lions Clubs International Convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, USA, and challenged Lions to become "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness." Since then, we have worked tirelessly to aid the blind and visually impaired.

1945: Uniting Nations

The ideal of an international organization is exemplified by our enduring relationship with the United Nations. We were one of the first nongovernmental organizations invited to assist in the drafting of the United Nations Charter and have supported the work of the UN ever since.

1957: Organizing Youth Programs

In the late 1950s, we created the Leo Program to provide the youth of the world with an opportunity for personal development through volunteering. There are approximately 144,000 Leos and 5,700 Leo clubs in more than 140 countries worldwide.

1968: Establishing Our Foundation

Lions Clubs International Foundation assists Lions with global and large-scale local humanitarian projects. Through our Foundation, Lions meet the needs of their local and global communities.

1990: Launching SightFirst

Through SightFirst, Lions are restoring sight and preventing blindness on a global scale. Launched in 1990, Lions have raised more than $346 million for this initiative. SightFirst targets the major causes of blindness: cataract, trachoma, river blindness, childhood blindness, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.

Today: Extending Our Reach

Lions Clubs International extends our mission of service every day – in local communities, in all corners of the globe. The needs are great and our services broad, including sight, health, youth, elderly, the environment, and disaster relief. Our international network has grown to include more than 207 countries and geographic areas.

  

 

 

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.

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