Contacts for Lions Programs

Please contact Lion President Bernie Oravec at 972-4848 for more information.

 

Benevolence and Service Activities

Sight: Lions have been involved in a program to assist people with sight defects worldwide since shortly after the creation of the first Lions Club in 1917. Our club provides eyeglasses, examinations and other corrective measures as directed by local Sight Firstmedical providers for those persons in financial need. Members test the eyes of school children in our area. The club gives financial support to the Lions Sight Foundation of Virginia in Roanoke, Old Dominion Eye Bank in Richmond, and an international program to eliminate preventable or reversible blindness. The club also collects eyeglasses for recycling and eye donor cards. Members also installed an Eyeglass Recycling Center at Lake of the Woods, staffed during weekdays, which works closely with the Recycling Center at Falls Church, VA. The Club contributed significant funds for the establishment of the District's Sight and Hearing Mobile Screening Unit. Several members have trained to operate the Hearing and Sight Screening Stations in the van.

Hearing: The club provides hearing aids and examinations for the needy. In addition, the club promotes ear protection and noise reduction through education of fourth graders in our local schools and through other organizations. The club financially supports, the Virginia Lions Hearing Foundation and Research Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Leader Dog School: The club sponsors eligible blind persons to attend the Leader Dog School in Rochester, Michigan for acquiring and training a Seeing Eye dog. The Club also supports the training of the Leader Dogs at the school with an annual donation.

Bland Memorial Music Scholarship Contest: This is a statewide contest for vocal and instrumental students leading, if successful at lower levels, to competition for major music scholarships at the annual Lions’ State Convention. Our club sponsors the contest at the local level and gives financial support for contests at the higher levels.

Stamps for the Wounded Program: The club supports this Lions International program to provide collectable postage stamps and/or funds to Veterans Hospitals.

Lions of Virginia Foundation: Financial support is given to provide for disaster relief, research and humanitarian programs within the state of Virginia.

Lions Club International Foundation: Financial support is given to help provide grants for humanitarian service and awards, vocational assistance, disaster relief, drug awareness and major catastrophes.

Remote Area Medical Expedition (RAM): The Remote Area Medical Expedition (RAM) conducted annually at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Southwest Virginia provides free medical services to the less fortunate residents of Appalachia.The LOW Lions and Lionesses have participated since 2001. The Club’s seven technicians have operated the screening equipment on the Mobile Sight and Hearing Unit, screening several hundred patients during the two-and-a-half day event.

Benevolence