06/08/2026
🎉 Celebrating 109 Years of Lions International! 🦁🌎
On June 7, 1917, a visionary businessman named Melvin Jones brought together a group of community-minded leaders in Chicago, Illinois, with a simple but powerful idea: organizations should focus not only on business interests, but on improving their communities and helping those in need.
From that meeting, Lions Clubs International was born.
Over the past 109 years, Lions have built an incredible legacy of service:
🔹 1917 – The first organizational meeting was held in Chicago.
🔹 1920 – Lions became international with the chartering of a club in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
🔹 1925 – Helen Keller challenged Lions to become “Knights of the Blind in the Crusade Against Darkness,” inspiring our long-standing commitment to vision programs.
🔹 1945 – Lions helped establish the NGO section of the United Nations.
🔹 1954 – The Lions motto, “We Serve,” was officially adopted.
🔹 1968 – The Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) was established, expanding our ability to provide humanitarian aid worldwide.
Today, Lions continue to serve through programs focused on:
👁️ Vision
💙 Diabetes Awareness
🍽️ Hunger Relief
🌳 Environmental Protection
🎗️ Childhood Cancer
What began as a single meeting in Chicago has grown into the world’s largest service club organization, with more than 1.4 million members serving through over 50,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographic areas.
As Lions around the world celebrate this milestone, we honor those who came before us, celebrate the service being performed today, and look forward to continuing our mission for generations to come.
Happy 109th Anniversary, Lions International!
