I have had the privilege to serve in the Italy Lions Club for the past three years. My first year I served as the Tail twister then, as the Vice President and, currently I serve as President. It has been one of my best experiences serving under Mark Souder during this time. Our guiding Lions Club of Waxahachie has been most helpful in getting this club reestablished.

If you are not sure about what the Lions Club’s are doing worldwide here are just a few examples.

This taken from The Lion magazine all members receive monthly:

In Puerto Rico, lions organize a medical boat trip to the Dominican Republic, where they set up shop and treat 10,000 people. In New York, lions pay off the mortgage for a family of nine who lost their father in an accident. In Ethiopia, Lions collaborate with the Carter Center to help eliminate trachoma, which causes blindness. In Capetown, South Africa , Lions partner with a supermarket to feed 60,000 people a day.

All over the world in 45,000 clubs and 202 countries, 1.3 million Lions are serving in their communities, making a difference in people’s lives.

Although Lions are known around the globe, word about our achievements isn’t truly getting out. Why? Partly because Lions spend very little money on public relations or advertising. In fact, other service organizations expend 25 to 80 times more than Lions on media costs. The result: a strong reputation but one that isn’t widely promoted or understood.

“The Lions’ philosophy is to be of service,” says Past International Director Carlos Justiniano of Puerto Rico, a Lion for the past 29 years. Every year, Justiniano’s club participates in a massive healthcare outreach in the Dominican Republic: the club organizes a group of about 400 medical professionals and volunteers, then ferries them over to their island neighbor to assess and treat people in need. They basically make a housecall to 10,000 people. Justiniano himself dismantles his orthodontist’s office, loads it on the ferry, then sets up shop in the Dominican Republic for the week. He’s seen the great benefit of the trip, and has repeated it for seven years. “But we don’t do it for recognition,” he says, “and so people don’t really know what we are capable of.”

Here in Texas we have the Texas Lion’s Camp. This next excerpt was taken off of the Texas Lion’s Camp website.

Our Mission

The primary purpose of the Camp is to provide, without charge, a camp for physically disabled, hearing/vision impaired, and diabetic children from the State of Texas, regardless of race, religion, or national origin.

Our goal is to provide an atmosphere wherein campers will learn the “Can Do” philosophy and be allowed to achieve maximum personal growth and self-esteem.

Camp Profile

The Texas Lions Camp is recognized as a non-profit corporation, under section 501(c/3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code. The Camp is accredited by the American Camping Association, and is licensed by the Texas Department of Health.

History

The Texas Lions Camp was chartered in 1949 in response to the terrible polio epidemic that forever changed the lives of so many Texas children. Since that time, the Texas Lions Camp has dynamically changed to include children who have all manner and types of physical disabilities, diabetes and cancer. Today, we are serving more children than at any other time in our history. Over 1,500 children per summer attend Texas Lions Camp.

Every year since the club has been reestablished here in Italy, we have had a vision clinic for Italy and surrounding schools, to help children in need of eyeglasses. As long as the club is here we will continue to provide this service. Also provide one evening a month for bingo at Trinity Mission.

The club here in Italy is a small club with only eleven members but, with your help I know we can grow each and every year. We need your support so that our community and our children will benefit from our club for generations to come. Currently we meet once a month on the 1st Sunday of every month at the Monolithic center at 3:00 p.m. The meetings last about an hour to an hour and a half.

If you would like to contact me anytime I can be reached at:
972-567-8662 mobile
972-483-6750 home
[email protected]

Sincerely,
Arval Gowin