Madison Central Lions Club
History
1922 - 2005
The Madison Lions Club, organized in March, 1922, Chartered May 16, 1922, was established with the purpose of bringing to our community the service and activities of civic minded individuals through the concepts of Lionism. One of our founders, Ted Herfurth, never let pass an opportunity to remind us of this purpose and to caution us that, should we ever permit ourselves to become a “knife and fork” club, our reason for existence would be nil. From its inception, our Club has made every effort to remain on the course of Service to all.
Our first major project, initiated soon after the Club was formed, was an Americanism Program. Weekly classes were held over a period of years at Lowell School, attended by the foreign-born of this area who wanted to know more about their obligations to this Country and to become better citizens. This program was so effective that it was eventually taken over by the Vocational School.
In 1922, recognizing the need for recreational facilities in the Greenbush area, the Club set up the Neighborhood House Project. We purchased a lot on West Washington Avenue and went about erecting a community center building on the site. Over the years thousands of dollars and innumerable hours of time went into this project. Eventually this project too was absorbed by public agencies but is still in operation although at another site and in a new facility. Our support still continues, however, and the Neighborhood House stands today as an example of altruism and forethought of those Lions of an earlier era.
1922 also saw the initiation of a Constitution Day Program, a meeting that observing the anniversary of the Constitution of the United States. This was an annual highlight as we met with members of other Service Clubs, the Judiciary, the Bar Association and other Civic Officials in observation of this historical event.
1928 saw us meeting another challenge. Camp Wakanda was being developed by the YMCA and our Club purchased ten lots adjoining the Camp and gave them to the “Y”. We also donated the monies required to erect a cabin known as “The Lion’s Den”.
In more recent years, we have supported the “Y” with memberships for boys unable to pay their own dues, as well as purchasing equipment and furnishings that were required at the various YMCA branches. Substantial pledges in support of the building programs of the Westside “Y”, the Eastside “Y”, and the YWCA have also been fulfilled.
From 1937 to 1957, we carried on our Safety Poster Program, designed to teach pupils the principles of safety, in and out of school. Contests were held each year with the cooperation of the school authorities, primarily through their Art Departments. The students created posters depicting some form of accident prevention. The posters were judged and the winners were displayed at our Safety Poster Meeting. The artists attended, as our guests, to receive their awards and prizes. Because the school authorities could not work this program into their busy schedule, we have had to discontinue it. During the twenty years we carried on the program, it was estimated that about 15,000 Madison School students participated.
Our Club hosted the Wisconsin State Lions Convention in 1932, 1942, 1954 and 1975. We also hosted the Wisconsin State Lions Bowling Tournament in 1952 and 1967.
Our Annual Christmas Party for Children was inaugurated in 1946 and carried on through 1974 when it was discontinued because it was too difficult for our young guests to be excused from their school activities. Perhaps no other program ever gave greater satisfaction to our members than acting as hosts to the visually impaired students. This program was supported by the fines collected by the Tail Twister throughout the year.
In 1947, we started our Gumball Machine Project, which continues as a steady source of revenue for our Club projects. The project has brought in a total of about $103,000.00 to date, at the rate of about $400.00 per month. Other fund raising activities through the years have included such projects as Holmes Rodeo sponsorship, sale of light bulbs, sale of tickets to Kehl School of Dance recitals and, in more recent years, the sale of Holiday Cakes. We were at one time one of the top Service Clubs in the nation from the standpoint of number of cakes sold each year.
For some years we held an Annual Farmers Day Meeting to which farmers from the area were invited to attend. In 1947, this program was changed to our Annual Soil Conservation Program, reaching 1,500 rural school children each year. The program taught them soil conservation through the creation of conservation posters, scrapbooks and other media in their classrooms and on scheduled field trips. Each year the district winners were our guests at a meeting where their projects were displayed and where awards were made to the winning schools. This program, like our Safety Poster Program, had to be discontinued.
Our Club was incorporated in 1947, important from a standpoint of legal liability.
In 1948, we commenced our Projected Book Machine project. This led to the purchase of twelve projected book machines and many book films to be used on them. Ten machines and most of the films were placed in the Madison Public Library. The remaining machines and books were placed in two area hospitals where they could be used by bedridden patients.
Probably the best known civic activity of our Club was the Annual Fourth of July Fireworks Program at Vilas Park. This was started in 1950 and was carried on through 1969, when circumstances prevented our continuation of the show. The fireworks were viewed by as many as 60,000 people. The considerable cost for each show was funded through solicitation of Madison businesses, individual citizens, Club activity funds and from people in attendance.
The Vilas Park Zoo through the years has also been the recipient of our support. Examples of this support include the purchase in 1953 of two lion cubs, the purchase of a miniature train which provided rides for children for many years, and, more recently, financial pledges to the development of the new Children’s Zoo.
1955 saw our Club playing a major role in the establishment of the Wisconsin Lions Foundation, which was originally established to operate the Wisconsin Lions Camp at Rosholt, Wisconsin. The Foundation has since expanded to include supervising the disbursement of State Lions funds to other programs such as Skylark Magazine - a publication for people who are both blind and deaf, The Leader Dog School, The Lions Eye Bank Program, CARE, Diabetes Awareness, Hearing and other worthy programs.
We are proud that our Club has continued to be one of the most generous contributors to the Wisconsin Lions Foundation donating as much as $4,000.00 annually at recent State Conventions.
Other programs that have received our support through the years include Badger Boy’s State, the Governor’s Youth Conference, the Four Lakes Drum & Bugle Corps, the YWCA and Local Hospital Building Funds, sponsorship of a Boy Scout Troop made up of mentally handicapped boys, School Safety Patrols, and support to the International Student Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
We have helped spread the gospel of Lionism by sponsoring new Clubs in Stoughton, Mazomanie, Monona Grove, Mount Horeb, DeForest, Madison West, Greater Madison East, Cottage Grove, Marshall and Utica. We also sponsored the Madison-Monona Grove Lioness Club, and in October of 1993, we sponsored our first Leo Club - the Leo Club of Sherman Middle School.
The formation of the Madison West Club in 1964 caused us to officially change our name to the Madison Central Lions Club, Inc.
We are proud that our Club has had ten of its members elected as District Governors of 27-D and 27-D1, a record attained by no other Club in the State. Also, we continue to be represented on State and District Committees by members who are playing a large part in keeping Madison Central at the forefront with regard to carrying out the duties and responsibilities necessary to keep our Club a leader in community service for the past 72 years.
On April 22, 1972, the Club celebrated its 50th Charter Anniversary with a gala affair at the Maple Bluff Country Club. A plaque was presented to our remaining Charter Member Lion, Oscar Jensen, for 50 years of service to the Club.
In September, 1972, the Club launched its first drive for donors to the Eye Bank. We were highly successful in obtaining over 700 donors. More recent drives have greatly increased the number of donor pledges on file at the Madison Eye Bank. In 1978, the State of Wisconsin began printing the Uniform Donor Card information on the back of driver’s licenses. The emphasis then changed from our signing up donors to our publicizing the program and encouraging donors to sign on their licenses.
The 70’s also found us providing a scoreboard for the Dane County Youth Building; a Braille Copy Machine to the Volunteer Braillists, Inc.; a Visual-Tek Television Reading System for the Madison Public Library; and financial support for the construction of a Children’s Hospital in Rivas, Nicaragua.
Fellowship with other Lions Clubs has been stimulated through planned visitations to their regular meetings and, more particularly, through our annual golf event, which attracts attendance from area Lions Clubs.
1975 saw the initiation of a Lions Youth Visitation Program. Three teenage children of our own members spent eight weeks in the homes of Lions from Managua, Nicaragua. Later that year, Madison Lions hosted children of the Lions of Nicaragua. Since that time our members have hosted young people from other areas of the world, including France, Norway, Germany and Japan.
In 1979, the Wisconsin Lions Foundation modified its funding of the Eye Banks in Milwaukee and Madison. Our Club adopted The Madison Eye Bank as one of its main projects and has provided substantial monetary and moral support.
In 1980, a new Braille Copy Machine was provided to the Volunteer Braillists, Inc. to assist them in continuing their outstanding work for the blind. We also held an Eagle Scout Recognition dinner to recognize the achievements of these new Eagle Scouts.
1982 saw us embarking on the new Fund Raising Program - a Rose Day Sale - which has been so successful that we are able to substantially increase our financial support to The Wisconsin Lions Foundation and the Madison Eye Bank.
In 1983, we completed a major project in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum which involved erecting permanent signs on the many trails throughout the area.
In 1985-86, we “twinned” with The Lions of Chipata in Zambia and The Lions Clube De Brotas in Brazil. Our Club also hosted the son of a Brotas Lion in the summer of 1985.
In 1987, we arranged for housing through the Brooklyn Lions Club of Baltimore for a Brazilian youth. The youth was sent to our country by Brazilian Lions Clubs so he could receive necessary medical treatment.
We observed our 65th Charter Anniversary on May 2, 1987, with a dinner at The Sheraton Inn. The Director of the University of Wisconsin Varsity Band, Michael Leckrone, was our guest speaker.
Continuing our support of ongoing research to find a cure for blindness, the Club has pledged $33,500 over a period of 5 years to the “Lions Fight for Sight” project. This project was initiated to aid in the financing of an eye research center to be built at the University Hospitals and Clinics, and for which the Lions of Wisconsin pledged $500,000.00. The Center is now in operation and our pledge has been fulfilled.
1987 also found us providing a TV decoder box for a hearing impaired person, a Braille machine for a visually handicapped young man, and additional large print books for the Madison Public Library.
Several of our members have also participated in community programs of other organizations, such as the “Meals for Madison” program, the Irv Stein Walk, the Diabetes Walk, and “Walk America” for the March of Dimes.
Our Club supports the “Youth Outreach” program by paying the fees for local teachers to attend training sessions held at the Wisconsin Lions Camp. These sessions provide the teachers with information and skills development in addressing and intervening in situations where alcohol and other drug abuse is involved.
We have continued to support the District 27-D1 CARE project. This project supports efforts in the Philippines by local doctors to provide surgical and other sight correction services through rural eye clinics. In addition, we assist in the collection of thousands of pairs of used eye glasses which are shipped to underdeveloped areas of the world for use by volunteer eye doctors and staff (such as those in the Philippines) as part of their efforts to assist persons needing eye care.
Our own Club’s Sight Conservation Committee now expends about $9,000.00 per year providing eye exams and new eye glasses to needy children and adults in the Madison area.
In 1990, we inducted our first woman Lion member who has since been joined by several other women Lions. We are very proud of the way they have assumed their duties and obligations as Fellow Lions. In 2000, Michelle Vetterkind was our first woman President.
In response to Lions International’s “Campaign Sight First” effort to eliminate preventable and curable blindness in the world by the year 2000, our Club responded with the following $17,000.00 commitment:
1991 - Donated $1,000.00
1992 - Donated $1,500.00
1993 - Donated $2,500.00
1994 through 1997 - Pledged $3,000.00/year
Our 70th Charter Anniversary, held at the Edgewater Hotel on May 3, 1992, involved a review of the Club’s activities over the past 70 years and the pledge by all members to carry on future programs with the same diligence and zeal as demonstrated by our past members.
In keeping with this pledge, the Club donated a $3,000.00 video magnifier to the Madison Public Library. This is a computerized system which magnifies written material in color.
Also in 1992, we donated $8,000.00 to the Wisconsin Council of the Blind to purchase optical aids to be used on a loan basis by low vision clients in order to determine what permanent equipment might best suit their rehabilitation needs.
In 1993, we pledged $27,150.00 to the U.W. Eye Bank to purchase a specular microscope with a video photography cell counter analyzer. This instrument is used to analyze corneal tissue to determine if it can be used for a transplant. This pledge was fulfilled in the 1994-95 Lionistic year.
During the 1994-95 Lionistic year, a number of efforts were begun. These include the club’s purchase of a specialized camera to photoscreen children for potentially blinding amblyopia. This Zone project will provide earlier detection and referral for medical intervention to correct reversible vision conditions before they become permanent. Another Zone project is the eyeglass collection and recycling project made possible through our purchase of a lensometer to catalog donated eyeglasses for future use. We also established a “Hearing” committee to provide services for people who are experiencing hearing loss.
At the urging of Dr. Giuseppe Grimaldi, President of Lions Clubs International, our club has assisted in the solidarity of working together with government and private business to secure $25,000 in grant funds for the Bayview Foundation of Madison.
We have been active in more fun activities - namely working together to staff the concessions area of the University of Wisconsin during home football games and home basketball games, and in sponsoring an anti-drug event at the Wisconsin State Capitol. “Don’t Do Drugs, Do Dancing” is an activity which is as fun as its message is important!
The 1995-96 Lionistic year was a successful one with the continuation of past efforts and a start in new directions. The first vision screening with the specialized camera (purchased in 1995) was held and over 100 children were photoscreened. The Lions who attended learned much about the screening process and will be able to expand this project throughout the zone.
Our Club participated in the Midwest Rowing Championships in April for several years. Member efforts producing and selling programs, providing parking control and manning stakeboats demonstrates Lionism in action to the community. Madison Central also made a $5,000 commitment to the new Cat Complex at the Henry Vilas Zoo.
In 2004 we began a project for the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin, transporting donated eye tissue to and from the Eye Bank en route to its use by surgeons in the restoration of sight. Our volunteer couriers make frequent trips to meet other Lions at designated points to speed the vital cargo on its way.
Our Club continues to support the Eyeglass Recycling Program, collecting used eyeglasses in boxes around the city and transporting them to the Eyeglass Center at Lions Camp. We also read, sort and package recycled glasses in preparation for their use by medical teams that travel to underdeveloped countries to distribute them. We also continue support of the Leader Dog program and the Lions Youth Exchange program.
When the disastrous tsunami struck Asia in 2004, we sent a substantial contribution to Lions Clubs International Foundation as it responded with special grants to be used by Lions in the devastated area for relief work and the restoration of housing. Similarly, in 2005, our Club and several individual members sent a total of $1000 to LCIF to assist in the relief work in the areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama which suffered severely from Hurricane Katrina. As members of the largest service organization in the world, we are able to help those in need worldwide through LCIF.
In 2005, the UW Hospitals proposed a major expansion of their eye clinic, which, if the fund drive was successful, would be designated the Lions Pediatric Eye Clinic. Our Club contributed $10,000 to this effort.
In 2005, we made the first change in our meeting schedule since the Club was founded, shifting to meetings twice a month, in order to reduce the demands on the time of our members, most of whom travel a considerable distance from all directions to attend meetings.
Finally we look back with great pride to those Lions who served in building this history of service.
We also look forward, with confidence, that our present and future members will continue to serve in like manner, making our community and world a better place in which to live.
LCI History
The International Association of Lions Clubs began as the dream of a Chicago insurance man, Melvin Jones, who wondered why local business clubs -- he was an active member of one -- could not expand their horizons from purely business concerns to the betterment of their communities and the world at large.
Jones’ idea struck a chord within his own group, the Business Circle of Chicago, and they authorized him to explore his concept with similar organizations from around the United States. His efforts resulted in an organizational meeting at a local hotel on June 7, 1917.
The 12 men who gathered there overcame a natural sense of loyalty to their parent clubs, voted the “Association of Lions Clubs” into existence and issued a call for a national convention to be held in Dallas, Texas, USA in October of the same year.
Thirty-six delegates representing 22 clubs from nine states heeded the call, approved the “Lions Club” designation, and elected Dr. William P. Woods of Indiana as their first president. Guiding force and founder Melvin Jones was named acting secretary. Thus began an association with Lionism that only ended with his death in 1961.
That first convention also began to define what Lionism was to become. A constitution and by-laws were adopted, the colors of purple and gold approved and a start made on Lionism’s Objectives and Code of Ethics.
One of the objects was startling for an era that prided itself on mercenary individualism, and has remained one of the main tenets of Lionism ever since. “No Club”, it read “shall hold the financial betterment of its members as a club object.”
Community leaders soon began to organize clubs throughout the United States, and the association became “international” with the formation of the Windsor, Ontario, Canada Lions Club in 1920. Clubs were later organized in China, Mexico and Cuba. By 1927, membership stood at 60,000 in 1,183 clubs.
In 1935, Panama became home to the first Central American club, with the first South American club being organized in Columbia the following year. Lionism reached Australia in 1947 and Europe in 1948, as clubs were chartered in Sweden, Switzerland and France. In 1952, the first club was chartered in Japan.
The International Association of Lions Clubs is today the largest service organization in the world with over 1.4 million members in more than 43,300 clubs in 714 districts covering 182 countries and geographic areas. Lions Clubs are not social clubs, although there are social benefits to membership. Lions Clubs members give their time, skills and resources to raise funds for charitable giving both in their communities and internationally.
The major focus of Lions fund raising activities is sight conservation, although other projects are pursued such as drug awareness programs and other programs that are specific to clubs and districts. Lions took up sight conservation as their major goal after a speech given by Helen Keller at the Lions International Convention held at Cedar Point, Ohio, USA in 1925. At that time, Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become “Knights of the Blind”, a challenge that has become a rallying cry for Lions projects worldwide.
Lions work in the area of sight conservation is carried out at many levels. Individual clubs sponsor free eye screening programs using mobile eye clinics. In many countries, clubs sponsor eye surgery camps where cataract surgeries are performed at no charge for those that can not afford this medical care. Many clubs collects old eyeglasses for distribution to the needy in other countries.
The International Association of Lions Clubs is the largest non-governmental organization associated with the United Nations and was called upon by the United Nations and the World Health Organization to raise funds for an international program of sight conservation.
It has been estimated that 40 million cases of curable and preventable blindness exist on this planet today. Without intervention, this was projected to become 80 million by the end of the century.
The International Association of Lions Clubs began a program of fund raising they called “Campaign Sight First” in order to cure/prevent 40 million cases of blindness worldwide. Over $148.6 million has been raised by Lions all over the world for this project. Eye hospitals are being built in the places that need them most. In India alone, over 300,000 cataract surgeries have been performed and that number is rapidly growing. Lions services to humanity range from purchasing eyeglasses for a child who’s parents can’t afford them to multimillion dollar programs to cure blindness on a worldwide scale.