District 1-A
Bridgeview Lions Club

Announcements :

WHO ARE THE LIONS?

The International Association of Lions Clubs was formed in 1917 by Melvin Jones in Chicago, Illinois. Since that time it has grown to be the Worlds Largest Service Organization, with more than ONE MILLION MEMBERS in more than twenty-nine thousand clubs throughout fifty-two countries. Lionism has spread everywhere. Each member shares a common bond of dedicated service in helping others. Our Motto is WE SERVE,with special emphasis placed on the blind and visually handicapped, deaf and hearing impaired of each comminity served.

The Bridgeview Lions Club was chartered with 25 members on May 6, 1975 at Mama Luigi's Restaurant.

The only remaining members are:

• Raymond Jachim
• Donald Rosenberg

The Club charteres a Lioness Club in 1983 with 10 members. Then in 1989 the Lions Club International passed a resolution to allow women into the Lions Clubs. Since most of the fund raisers were done together it was decided to disband the Lioness and become members of the Lions Club that same year.

The only remaining original members are:

• Linda Cruz
• Dawn Grogan (rejoined the Club in 2000)

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WHY THE BRIDGEVIEW LIONS CLUB EXISTS?

Simply to help others less fortunate in life than ourselves. Any individual or source with a worthwhile request for financial aid that is brought to our attention will be considered. Our first objective is to help those within our community in need of assistance, especially on the areas of vision and hearing impairment, but we also support the LIONS OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION.

The Lions of Illinois Foundation provides the following programs:

• Diabetic Eye Screening
• Eyeglasses and Hearing Aid collections
• Camp Lions Summer Camp for vision & hearing impaired children and adults
• Hearing Screening Bus
• Low Vision Screening
• Infant Hearing Screenings

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BRIDGEVIEW LIONS CLUB ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Raised and contributed over $750,000 to fund the following projects.

HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS:

• 5 Leader Dogs to Bridgeview Residents.
• Donated to the Bridgeview Library tape recorders and Braille books for the blind.
• Donation of two Braille typewriters.
• Donation of a large print typewriter.
• Donations to Hadley School for the Blind.
• Donations to Leader Dog School.
• H Custer Fund
• Supplied 12 hearing aids to residents.
• Collected over 15000 pair of used eyeglasses for third world countries.
• Support the Eye Research Center, University of Illinois.
• Support Internationals Sight First Program with a $12,000 donation to cure all curable blindness by the year 2020.
• Support Shrine Circus for the handicapped.
• Support all eye programs.
• donated over $30,000 to the Lions of Illinois Foundation
• Donations to the John Orenus Community Center.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS:

• Chamber of Commerce Toys for Tots.
• Chamber of Commerce Scholarship funds.
• Support the needy through the John Oremus Community Center.
• Donations to Bridgeviews, Childrens Safe City.
• Donated to the 1991 tornado victims.
• Donated to the 1993 flood victims.
• Donated to the Families of September 11th.
Citizenship Award to male & female students at Indian Springs School District 109
• Humanitarian Award to a service minded student at Argo Community High School.
• Police Officer of the Year Award.
• Firefighter of the Year Award.
• Donations to Argo Community High School.
• District 217 PFA Scholarship Fund.
• Had ramps constructed for two wheel hair bound residents.

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HOW ARE THESE FUNDS COLLECTED?

Through planned Fund Raising Projects. Our Largest and best known is CANDY DAY FOR THE BLIND. This takes place each year on the second Friday in October, rain or shine. All money collected is utilized to aid the Blind and Hearing impaired and disabled.

Other major Fund Raisers are:

Twice a month Bingo. The Community Center asked the Bridgeview Lions Club, Bridgeview Baseball League, Bridgeview Firefighters, and Southfield Baseball League if they would hold a weekly Bingo. This would help to raise money to finance programs at the center because they were losing some of their Federal grant money. So May of 1987 Bingo Started at the Community Center.

The Club also hosts an Appreciation Buffet each year, to honor a Police Officer of the Year, Firefighter of the Year, School district #109 Educator of the Year, Veteran of the Year and the Seniors and  volunteers that help our club raise the necessary funds to help the needy.

Activities :

The Bridgeview Lions Club holds a Bingo every other Wednesday at the Bridgeview Community Center located at 79th & Oketo Ave. Regular Bingo starts at 7:00 PM and the Early Bird Special starts at 6:45 PM. See below for dates.

BINGO DATES

• January 14, 2009
• January 28, 2009
• February 11, 2009
• February 25, 2009
• March 11, 2009
• March 25, 2009
• April 08, 2009
• April 22, 2009
• May 06, 2009
• May 20, 2009
• June 03, 2009
• June 17, 2009
• July 01, 2009
• July 15, 2009
• July 29, 2009
• August 12, 2009
• August 26, 2009
• September 09, 2009
• September 23, 2009
• October 07, 2009
• October 21, 2009
• November 04, 2009
• November 18, 2009
• December 02, 2009
• December 16, 2009
• December 30, 2009