The Lions Club of Land O’ Lakes Roar

Nawar El Khouri Hage | Nov 06, 2024

I lately attended a presentation by a young woman where she described her emergence from hardships through perseverance, which is no light ordeal for a person who, at that time, was merely 16 years old. However, the part that I am interested in, for the sake of this Roar, is a little part of the presentation that I will refer to as The Challenge.

That young woman, at the age of 16, was told she would be unable to graduate or build a better life for herself, and that became her challenge, and more importantly, her motivation to succeed.

Challenges seem to tend to mold us at points into subjugating to successes or failures, and be molded by us into a change of the direction of the challenge at other points. That notion somehow reminded me of the great challenge that was given to the Lions in their early days of formation in 1925 by Helen Keller. A woman, who braved her own challenges, molding them into outcomes that changed the perception of the world to the capabilities of visual and hearing impaired individuals; Keller approached the Lions asking them, in fact challenging them, to become the Knights of the Blind. And with that, Vision, became the first Focus Area of Lions and later on one of its Global Causes.

Lions approached Vision in every aspect they could conceive: Used Eye-glasses Recycling and Re-distributing, Cornea Implants Operations, Eye Donation Banks, Eye Mobile Clinics, Vision Screening in schools and more. In 2024 Lions Clubs International Foundation donated a total of US$3,242,886 to projects and initiatives that support the elimination of blindness around the world; and that is, of course, in addition to the countless volunteering hours and donations towards vision from the individual Lions Clubs around the world.

A simple challenge by a young woman molded the entire perception and undertaking of the Lions over the past 99 years, and still continues to date. And for that raise a glass to that young woman who thought, strategized and approached the Lions with the challenge, Helen Keller, may your name be always a reminder of strength and “vision”.

Till we meet again in a Roar, watch the birds as they start their migration south, listen to rumbling of the leaves as they scatter on our grounds, and bring your children on the 9th and 10th of November for free vision screening at our hall in Northbrook.