I’m flying through the grocery store, grabbing the few items I came for—frozen dinners, low-carb treats and Windex—determined to get in and out in less than 15 minutes so I can get on with my busy life. I round a corner at 30 miles per hour and stop dead in my tracks.
Lions…are on the frontlines of need and suffering every day…offering comfort, care and compassion to people…
There, in a dilapidated wheelchair, is a sad-looking elderly gentleman, struggling to wrestle a can of baked beans into his cart. I observe this for a second, and a wave of compassion washes over me. I spring into action, and help him wrangle his can of beans safely off the shelf and then get situated again in his wheelchair. I smile at him to let him know that someone cares. He smiles back, the edge softened by a touch of kindness from a complete stranger.
Who’ll stop the rain?
I finish my shopping, thinking not just about this man trying to get around and live his life with much difficulty, but all the other visions of struggle and suffering that now flood my mind. Not only is it raining in my soul, it’s pouring outside here in Chicago—again. How symbolic of the world we live in.
There are so many people who are ill and in the hospital or at home with no one to visit them. Children who are living with diabetes and battling cancer. Disease, hunger and the horrors of war. Broken homes and broken individuals who need someone to mend them.
Thank goodness for Lions and Leos. They serve on the frontlines of need and suffering every day, all around the world. Offering comfort, care and compassion to people in need.
Lions are the sunshine in a stormy world
In the sunny Caribbean, the Antigua Lions Club eases the suffering in its community in a myriad of ways, such as providing medical help for children. “Our club facilitated a family’s trip to Cuba for evaluation of their six-month old boy who was having constant seizures,” said club member Lion Valerie Gonsalves-Barreiro, MJF. “We also arranged a trip to Trinidad for an eight-year-old girl who had a brain tumor. When her family returned, they thanked our club for giving their daughter a second chance at life. We get such a warm feeling when we help others.”
Lion Kay Mills of the Middletown Kentucky Lions Club reports that her club serves breakfast three days a week at a homeless shelter to help alleviate hunger. “We also have a fund called Helping Hand Up that provides short-term needs for families,” she added. “We extend Lions kindness to the young people in our community, too. Once a month, I meet with a local fifth grade class, and we do something nice for someone else. On Halloween, we made cards for nursing home residents. We’ve also made bookmarks for the summer reading program and tied fleece scarves together to give away in the winter.”
A world awash in need
The Leos Fight Hunger European service project officially kicked off on July 1, 2019. Leos collect food from restaurants, pubs and supermarkets, and distribute it to young people and families in need.
“In addition to the Leos Fight Hunger project, my club is involved in activities such as distributing clothing to the homeless in the bitter cold winter,” said Leo Giacomo Sillani from the Leo Club Bramante Cinque Giornate in Milan, Italy. “And together with our Lions sponsor club, we provide free vision screenings to those who need them each April. People probably won’t remember what we did for them, but they will remember the smiles—ours and theirs. And we’ll remember the way they look at us, full of hope for their future.”
Planting seeds of kindness
Leo-Lion Wilson T. Chadzamira of the Greater Harare Lions Club in Harare, Zimbabwe, believes that knowledge is power. “Leos help ease the world’s suffering by providing opportunities for young people to go to school. Some Leo clubs in our Multiple District 412A conduct fundraising activities to raise funds to pay school fees for underprivileged youth. We’ve also been involved in improving the environment through clean ups and the planting of trees.”
Lions are definitely changing the world for the better, says Lion Richard Stevenson of the South Tucson Lions Club. “The only way to break the cycle of poverty is through education, and 80% of learning is visual,” he pointed out. “Identifying children who need a professional eye exam and possibly glasses, and getting these for them is essential if we want to ensure that future generations can be productive citizens.
“While at a vision screening early on, a teacher encouraged a little boy to ‘Go ahead, tell him.’ This child came up to me and shyly said, ‘Thank you for my new glasses.’ Then he hugged my knees. That was it. I became a vision screener in our local schools. We just completed our 80,000th vision screening this year. I am so proud to be a Lion.”
From helping those with diseases like diabetes and cancer to providing disaster relief to feeding the homeless, Lions and Leos the world over are easing the suffering of millions of people. But above all, they are giving them something even more important—the gifts of kindness and hope. In this great big ever-increasingly impersonal world, they are letting people know that someone cares.
Learn more about Lions’ global causes and how Lions are spreading kindness and compassion throughout the world.
Madeleine Miller, ABC is the senior strategic communications specialist for Lions International.
