Charlottesville Host Lions Club

I am the president of the Charlottesville Host Lions club and we have been in existence for 89 years. The Lions organization was formed in 1917, presently with over 1.4 million members and is the largest non-profit in the world. The Host club has donated over $200,000 to the Charlottesville community and beyond generated from hundreds of fund-raising events. At one time we had over 150 members in 1980 but have declined to just 12 members due to members, mainly, passing away. We are now at a point that, in order to continue, we need to recruit more and younger members to continue the good works our club has accomplished over the many decades. That is why we need to set up a table in a well-visited venue to recruit these new members. Our club is pursuing other venues and strategies to recruit members, as well. Just to give you an idea of the good works and financial support we have given to many local, state and international organizations, let me list some of them. The Municipal Band has received over $75,000 from us to pay for their uniforms, sound system, instruments and the transportation trailor for their instruments; we paid for and built the shelters at McIntire Park and Darden Towe Park; we build the gazebo and the golf bag drop-off at Meadowcreek Golf Course; we have recently donated $16,000 to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank; we have donated $4000 to the Meals on Wheels organization; we have donated thousands of dollars to the Virginia Eye Bank, Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, Little League Baseball teams, Virginia Diabetes Association, Ronald McDonald House, Lions of Virginia Foundation, and have donated many thousands of dollars to organizations dedicated to sight and hearing causes. Our moto is "We Serve" and that means anyone but mainly we focus on the people with sight and hearing issues. Lions, International gathers about 20 million pairs of used eyeglasses every year, refurbishes them and redistributes them to third world countries. We purchase eyeglasses and hearing aids to those people, locally, who contact us with a need but cannot afford them. I could go on but I think you get the picture about how important it is to have our club exist in the Charlottesville area. I would be glad to come down to your office to talk to you, in person, if you wish.