LIONISM
Lions trace their beginning to 1917 when a Chicago insurance man, Melvin Jones, was inspired to expand the scope of the local businessmen's club into activities to improve conditions in the community and the world at large. His idea was accepted by his club and other business groups and that same year they organized the first convention in Dallas , Texas with 22 clubs represented. At that first meeting work was begun on objectives and a code of ethics. Where as members of business associations had prided themselves on mercenary individualism this new organization held that no club shall have as its purpose the financial betterment of its members.
By 1920 the Association of Lions Clubs had become International with the formation of the first Canadian club. Subsequently clubs were organized in Cuba , Mexico , and China and by 1927 there were over eleven hundred Lions Clubs worldwide.
The Lions involvement with blindness had its roots in a presentation by Helen Keller at a Lions convention in 1925. She asked the Lions to become the Knights of the Blind. Thus began an active and growing involvement in service to the blind and visually impaired.