President's Chat Box
The Campbell Reporter (Page 13, Vol. 4, Issue 28, July 10, 2002
West San Jose - Campbell Lions
Club celebrates a Legacy - 50 years of Community Service! May 1952, fifty years
ago, a small group of businessmen, led by Enoch A. Davis Jr., established the
Hester Lions Club in San Jose to do community work. In 1998, a recently retired
military woman was inducted into West San Jose-Campbell Lions Club. Little did
she know that the Lions Club she joined was the same club her father
established in 1952.
Lois Davis Murray became the 51st president of the West
San Jose-Campbell Lions Club following in her father's footsteps. The club
celebrated its 50-years Legacy Anniversary at The Three Flames Restaurant in
May 2002; Lois Davis Murray celebrates her history making term July 1, 2002. "A
legacy, a look back, fifty years of service in our community helping men,
women, and children," said Murray. "Lions give back to the community because so
much has been given, so freely, by the same community over past years."
Back in 1953, the Lions in the area established the Santa Clara Valley
Blind Center. In 1991, the organization assumed its present name of Lions
Silicon Valley Center for the Blind & Sight Impaired. The center is open to
all people who are sight impaired. Some clients were born blind; others become
blind after having an accident, acquiring a disease such as retinitis
pigmentosis, macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy. The center trains
its clients in new skills such as using a cane, walking to the bus stop,
getting in a car, reading Braille, weaving baskets and even performing everyday
activities such as eating and doing laundry.
Not only does the West San
Jose-Campbell Lions' Club work with the visually impaired in the local area,
one of its most recent projects involves donating used eyeglasses to other
countries. Each year Lions Clubs throughout the state brings thousands of pairs
of used glasses to other countries, such as Mexico, for people who cannot
afford vision car or supplies. The San Francisco based organization Lions in
Sight receives donated prescription glasses, categorizes, sterilizes and
packages the glasses. Accompanied by an eye surgeon and an optometrist, Lions
Club members travel to many countries to test eyesight and find suitable
glasses for those in need. One of the groups most rewarding experiences was
giving a pair of glasses to a sight impaired grandmother, with her new glasses
she saw her grandchild for the first time, said Murray."
West San
Jose-Campbell Lions Club founded two organizations, Books Aloud, which supplies
books on tape for those with visual impairments, and Lions' Free Cell Phones
for Emergency Use. West San Jose-Campbell Lions participate in Books Aloud
volunteering to record book readings. Lions' Free Cell Phones for Emergency Use
is a program in which Lions Club members give free cell phones to use in the
case of an emergency. The phones are programmed to dial only 911. "We have
given away thousands of cell phones. This year our club alone donated 1,500."
The Blind Center started their own Lions Club called Visionaries," said Murray.
"Even those who are blind are finding ways to get involved, giving back to the
community that has helped them so greatly."
West San Jose-Campbell Lions
volunteer in the A. J. Robinson Mobile Health Screening Van providing the
community with diabetes screening. "Last year we were able to tell several
people, whose sugar levels were high, they needed to see a doctor. Most people
don't know they are candidates for the disease," said Murray.
The Lions
Club Foundation is an international organization, with clubs in interesting
places as Turkey, Istanbul, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Denmark. "It is kind of
nice to follow my father down the road in Lions' service," said Murray. "Who
would have known that 50 years later I would be at the same podium leading
community service as he did"? "We Serve" has a deeper meaning to me".
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