Local Lions Club Begins Annual White Cane Drive

The Charlotte County Lions Club, like many Lions Clubs around the nation, is once again beginning its largest annual fund raiser. The “White Cane Drive,” as it has come to be known, is a campaign to raise funds for helping blind or sight impaired individuals in the community. This help comes in the way of providing eye tests or even eyeglasses for those who may not be able to afford them. Club members will be stationed at the entrances of local businesses accepting donations from the public. The familiar, small white cane with the red tip is given in return as a symbol of a person’s charitable donation.

Actually, providing assistance for the blind, or for people with sight problems, has been one of, if not the main missions of Lions Club International, which began nearly 100 years ago in 1917. It was in the year 1930 that the president of the Peoria, Illinois Lions Club, George A. Bonham  was credited with the introduction of the familiar white cane with a red band as a means of “…assisting the blind with their independent mobility…” (2014 www.lionsclub.org). Today, the white cane with red band is the universal symbol of the sight impaired and carries with it certain legal rights for its user, such as pedestrian right of way, among others. Since 1930, the world wide charitable organization has, according to the Lions Club website; “…established or strengthened pediatric eye care centers that helped more than 120 million children.” Their work has also helped to halt the spread of trachoma, a bacterial infection that can lead to blindness, in Ethiopia by providing “an estimated 10 million doses of the antibiotic azithromycin annually.” An estimated 41 million children in Africa have received vaccinations due to Lions Club donations. Additionally, Lions Clubs provide intensive eye testing for high school students nationally, such as the testing done at Randolph-Henry High School right here in Charlotte County recently. They maintain eyeglass recycling centers worldwide and even provide eyeglasses for those who cannot afford them. The long list of giving is impressive and it goes on and on. For more information on Lions Club International, the website is http://www.lionsclub.org.