Although the youngest of the world-wide service clubs, Lions International is by far the largest, with more than 1,415,600 members in 42,732 clubs in 178 countries on six continents. Lions International, officially named The International Association of Lions Clubs, was formed on June 7, 1917, after a merger of business luncheon clubs in Chicago with the Lions Clubs of Indiana. Melvin Jones, a young Chicago insurance agent, is considered the Founder of Lionism and served for more than forty years as the first General Secretary of the national organization.

The first national Lions convention was held on October 8, 1917, in Dallas, Texas, with 23 clubs participating. International Conventions are now held annually during July, with more than 15,000 Lions from around the world voting as official delegates. The 1997 Convention will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Association is a non-profit corporation governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. All of Lionism serves under the Lions Code of Ethics and the Clubs are governed by the Objects of Lions Clubs International.

Since the International Convention of 1920, when Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become "Knights of the Blind in the battle against darkness," sight conservation has been a high priority of Lions service. The first white cane was invented by a Lion, and the first school to train guide dogs for the blind was started by Lions. Lions established the first eye banks to harvest corneal tissue to give sight to those who suffered blindness because of injury or disease. In 1993, the efforts of Lions culminated in the Lions SightFirst Campaign, a fundraising drive to raise funds to restore the sight of the 32,000,000 people in the world who have curable blindness and to prevent blindness from occurring to an equal number who might lose their sight in the next 25 years. The campaign, which raised more than $146 million, will accomplish those goals around the world.

Lions International Headquarters
300 22nd Street
Oak Brook, Illinois 60521-8842 USA
(630) 571-5466 - Fax (630 571-8890
Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time,
during which visitors are always welcome.