“We Serve”
The Phelps Lions Club meets the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 6:30 pm at the Phelps Hotel, 90 Main Street in the village of Phelps.
The Phelps Lions Club
- In Our Community -
Founded in 1956 in Phelps by service- minded people, the local Lions Club has become a vital part of our community. Of the 34 original charter members, we still have 2 active in the club. Our Lions Club distributes Christmas food baskets and toys to the needy and fruit baskets to senior citizens every year. Monies collected at Lions’ fundraisers benefit the local food cupboards, the House of John, Boy Scout Troop 46, the Phelps Historical Society and the Phelps Library - to name a few.
You will see Lions volunteering their time and talents at the Phelps annual Sauerkraut Festival, doing free vision screenings for children at our community events, and providing other services vital to making Phelps a great place to live. Our slogan “We Serve” says it all.
History of the Lions
The International Association of Lions Clubs was organized in 1917 with 22 clubs in nine states and has grown to 45,923 clubs with 1.4 million members in 193 countries. The International Association of Lions Clubs, through it’s fundraiser called “Campaign SightFirst”, is trying to prevent or even cure 40 million cases of blindness worldwide. Lions from all around the world have raised over $148,600,000 for this program
Lions Club Commitment to
Sight Conservation
The
Lion’s major work is in the area of sight conservation, although other
projects such as drug awareness programs in schools, diabetes awareness and
other programs specific to individual clubs. Lions have taken up the
mission of sight conservation as their major goal after a speech by Helen
Keller. At the Lions Convention in 1925, Helen Keller 
challenged
the Lions to become “Knights of the Blind”. Today, Lions
collect more then 5 million pairs of glasses
annually. We provide thousands with free, quality eye care, Braille-writers and large print texts, white canes and guide dogs. In addition, the Lions Clubs provides free professional glaucoma screenings and make cornea transplants possible.
The Phelps Lions Club continues this commitment by collecting eyeglasses and hearing aids at various locations in the villages of Phelps and Clifton Springs. The club also provides free vision screening for children up to age 6. This screening, done in a “clinic without walls”, can detect many vision problems such as: amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (mis-aligned eyes), cataracts, hyperopia (far-sightedness), myopia (near-sighted-ness), astigmatism, and anisometropia. These problems, if caught early in children, are easier to correct.
How Can I Help?
We are looking for community minded persons to help us help our town. Our Lions Club is open to both men and women who have a desire to make a difference and to help those less fortunate.
For more information, please contact Scott Sweet (Membership Chairman) at (315) 548-2753 or visit us on the web:
