Lions Clubs International has a long and storied history filled with deeds and heroes great and small, from former Presidents of the United States like Lion Jimmy Carter to more local heroes like PDG Richard Warner, along with so many more it's hard to keep track. Let's look at the highlights of Lions Club International!
1917 The Beginning // Chicago business leader Melvin Jones asked a simple and world-changing
question – what if people made a commitment to improving their communities? More than a century later, Lions
International is the largest service club organization in the world, with more than 1.4 million members in 49,000
clubs acting on the same simple idea – when Lions come together for the good of humanity, there’s nothing we
can’t achieve.
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 Saving Sight // Helen Keller addressed the Lions Clubs International Convention in Cedar Point,
Ohio, USA, and challenged Lions to become “knights of the blind.” Since then, we have worked tirelessly to aid
those who are blind or visually impaired.
1945 Uniting Nations // We were one of the first nongovernmental organizations invited to assist in
the drafting of the United Nations Charter. We host an annual Lions Day with the United Nations to continue our
partnership and identify global solutions to the challenges facing humanity.
1957 Organizing Youth Programs // We started the Leo program to provide the young people of
the world with an opportunity to serve and lead with Lions. There are approximately 190,000 Leos and 7,600 Leo
clubs in more than 150 countries worldwide.
1968 Establishing Our Foundation // Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) assists Lions
with global and large-scale humanitarian projects. Through our global Foundation, Lions have received more than
US$1 billion in grants to help meet the needs of their local and global communities.
1990 Launching SightFirst // Through the support of LCIF, Lions are restoring sight and preventing
blindness on a global scale with the SightFirst program. Launched in 1990, Lions have raised more than US$372
million for this initiative that targets the major causes of blindness.
2017 Celebrating Our Centennial // Lions celebrate a century of service by serving more than 250 million people around the world through a special Centennial Service Challenge.
2018 Rallying Around Global Causes // Lions unite to support the global causes of vision, hunger,
the environment, childhood cancer and diabetes. LCIF launches Campaign 100: LCIF Empowering Service to
raise US$300 million to increase the service impact of Lions around the world.
2022 Campaign 100 // LCIF successfully completes the largest fundraising campaign in the
organization’s history, raising more than US325 million and exceeding its US$300 million goal. This amazing
success will enable LCIF to continue to support grant-worthy projects and empower Lions to improve health and
well-being, strengthen our communities, and support those in need around the world.
If you are interested in a more in depth look at LCI's history check out their interactive timeline that pairs this page with YouTube videos and other resources here --> LCI Interactive Timeline