Message from International President Corlew

Dear Lions Leaders, In the past three months, Lions clubs in two small towns here in the U.S. received negative national media coverage and extensive negative chatter on social media.  In both instances, a Lions club sponsored an annual parade - something the clubs had done for several decades, and something many Lions clubs do in other communities across the United States.  And in both instances, a float in the parade attracted unwanted and unintended attention by making a political statement, and doing so in an offensive manner.  In neither case was the float in question actually built by a Lion member or club, but because the Lions club sponsored the parade, all the negative publicity and all that comes with it is assigned to the club. These are but two of many other incidents that have occurred over the past several years that garnered negative publicity for a Lions club, and by extension negative publicity for all Lions clubs. Lions clubs and their members are the fabric of their local communities, and are held in high regard for the work they do.  But at the same time, and therefore, Lions are held to a higher standard.  So when a Lions member or club does something that runs contrary to what the community believes to be acceptable, it harms our reputation, our brand, our image, and detracts from our overall mission of community service. Over the past 90 days – the same period of time the incidents cited above garnered negative press – Lions spent more than 9 million hours of service better communities; we surpassed our goal of serving 100 million people through our centennial service challenge; more than 5,000 clubs completed centennial legacy projects; and countless numbers of people received the gift of sight through Lions programs.  And during this same period of time Lions International was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. We are a non-sectarian, non-religious organization.  Our mission is “To empower volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding.”  We must be ever mindful of that mission, and strive to draw attention to the good work we do. When organizing or sponsoring events in your respective communities, it is vital to be ever vigilant to guard against anything that might be perceived as offensive, and could potentially harm our reputation and negatively impact our mission of service.    Sincerely, Bob Corlew