The Stephen Lewis Foundation is on the front lines of humanitarian service and championing health and human rights to end AIDS in Africa and around the world. In honor of this exemplary movement, the Stephen Lewis Foundation will be presented with the 2024 Lions Humanitarian Award during the 106th Lions International Convention this June. Stephen Lewis Foundation co-founder Ilana Landsberg-Lewis will accept the award.
Working with, and learning from, African women leaders of grassroots organizations at the frontlines of the AIDS pandemic is what lies at the heart of the core values of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation partners with community-led organizations that empower women and girls, grandmothers, orphaned and vulnerable children, LGBTIQ communities and people living with HIV. It delivers funds directly to these organizations that are at the forefront of responses to the HIV epidemic in 14 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.
"Working with, and learning from, African women leaders of grassroots organizations at the frontlines of the AIDS pandemic is what lies at the heart of the core values of the Stephen Lewis Foundation,” said Stephen Lewis Foundation co-founder Ilana Landsberg-Lewis. “Our aspiration is to amplify their voices and expertise. We aim to ensure that they have support that responds to their own priorities and agendas, and that their advocacy, power, deep knowledge, resilience and persistence are recognized as an essential and transformative force.”
The Lions Humanitarian Award is the association's highest honor, given to an individual or an organization with exemplary humanitarian efforts. This award comes with a Lions Clubs International Foundation grant of up to US$250,000 to a charitable organization for continuing humanitarian activities. The Stephen Lewis Foundation joins a distinguished list of prior recipients, including Mother Teresa, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and chef and humanitarian José Andrés.
"We are truly honored to present this award to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, whose leaders, donors and volunteers strive to create a future free from stigma and poverty arising from the impact of HIV and AIDS on families in sub-Saharan Africa and to instill hope in generations to come," said Lions International President Dr. Patti Hill. "The foundation’s work, including the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, creates oases of love and strength, weaving a tapestry of care that stretches across communities around the world. They truly are changing the world one life at a time.”
Since 2006, Canadian, American, Australian and British grandmothers and grandothers have joined African grandmothers in solidarity through the Campaign. Thousands of members raise significant funds — US$40 million — and awareness in support of grandmothers caring for children who have lost their parents to AIDS, and to claim their human rights. They rally behind the call, “We will not rest until they can rest!”
Learn more about the Lions Humanitarian Award and see our list of winners at www.lionsclubs.org/humanitarian-winners.
Learn more about the Stephen Lewis Foundation at: https://stephenlewisfoundation.org/
Want to hear more about the Stephen Lewis Foundation in person? Then register for the 2024 Lions International Convention in Melbourne today.
Hannah Zettl is a public relations specialist for Lions International.
