Stories from the Heart: Lions Serving the World One Person at a Time
206
Stories from the Heart: Lions Serving the World One Person at a Time
206eBook
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781546219507 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 12/20/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 206 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Lions Answer the Call
"Lionism is not a thing to be put on like a badge when one enters a meeting, and to be laid aside and forgotten when the meeting is adjourned. Lionism is a real, living thing, conferring its privileges and imposing its obligations alike; and the real Lion is the [person] who recognizes and accepts both in the same spirit." (President Ray L. Riley, 1929, Kleinfelder and Brennan, n.d.)
This chapter begins with a story — Helen Keller's story — and then provides a broad survey of how Lions Clubs have served their communities and people in need throughout their one-hundred-year history. Many books have been written about Lions Clubs International (LCI) with attention to its leaders, its structure, and landmark events. My purpose is not to duplicate these efforts; but rather, to provide a general, thematic review of how the focus on service evolved in response to historical and societal forces. While some specific activities and events are identified, they are not meant to represent a complete listing of all Lions' service activities during the time periods being referenced.
Helen's Story
We all have had a day in our lives that was most memorable. For Helen Keller, that day was when her teacher, Anne Sullivan came into her life on March 3, 1887. The story of Helen Keller and her relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan-Macy, is well-known around the world. Paul Martin (1991) historically described Helen Keller as one of the world's most extraordinary women. The story of how she changed the lives of Lions at the 1925 convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, may be less familiar and should be retold in this book. Complementing what has been written of this event; the following is a retelling of the story with a focus on how it affected those who heard Helen's message that day.
In 1925, Helen and Anne were in the midst of a three-year fundraising tour for the American Foundation for the Blind. The Foundation was established in 1921 due to a growing concern about vision loss prompted by the return of blind veterans from World War I. The Foundation created the Helen Keller Endowment and the goal was to raise two million US dollars, primarily to prevent blindness among children. By the spring of 1925, Helen and Anne had spoken to hundreds of thousands of people in 123 cities (Martin & Kleinfelder, 2008).
While Helen was an effective fundraiser, she wanted to take a break and spend the summer of 1925 in the mild climate of California because she was concerned about Anne's declining health due to the constant travel. In addition, she had grown increasingly irritated by having to appear as beggars, as she described herself and Anne. Despite her request to extend her stay in California, the Foundation asked them to return to New York by June 15. This did not sit well with Helen. In response, Helen reminded the Foundation that the Lions had invited them to speak at their convention in Ohio, and they planned to honor that commitment (Martin & Kleinfelder, 2008).
When Helen and Anne arrived at the convention on June 30, 1925, few people in Cedar Point knew they were coming. However, when they entered the convention hall, and were presented to the delegates by International President Harry A. Newman, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, they were greeted with a standing ovation. As was customary when they addressed an audience, Anne spoke first to tell the story of how she came into Helen's life and ultimately changed it. Anne remarked on Helen's uniqueness: "Few human beings, if you stop and think of it, have overcome such obstacles. Deaf, blind and mute from her nineteenth month, she has had to create a world of her own, with the help of the sense of touch and a great imagination" (Martin, 1991, p. 56).
The story of Helen's awakening to the power of language and its meaning was powerful. Jay Copp, Senior Editor of THE LION magazine, reflected that it was difficult to appreciate how the public felt about Helen. Unlike other heroes of the day — Charles Lindbergh or Babe Ruth — she was not famous for what she did, but rather for who she was. She overcame her disabilities, stretched the boundaries of human potential, and left people with the impression they had touched greatness. Mark Twain believed that, "she will be as famous a thousand years from now as she is today" (Martin & Kleinfelder, 2008, p. 29).
After her remarks, Anne stood beside Helen at the microphone, planning to repeat what she said for the audience's benefit because Helen's voice was often thought to be difficult to understand. But on this day, Helen herself spoke with power and precision and her voice filled the hall. As recorded by Martin and Kleinfelder (2008), she first described herself as an opportunity waiting to be taken:
I suppose you have heard the legend that represents opportunity as a capricious lady, who knocks at every door but once, and if the door isn't opened quickly, she passes on, never to return. And that is as it should be. Lovely, desirable ladies won't wait. You have to go out and grab them. I am your opportunity. I am knocking at your door. I want to be adopted ... I hope you will adopt me ... What I offer you is full of splendid opportunities for service. (p. 31)
She pointedly asked the audience to imagine what it must be like to be blind. Helen put the Lions in attendance into the position of thinking about what her life must be like:
Picture yourself stumbling and groping at noonday as in the night; your work, your independence, gone. In that dark world wouldn't you be glad if a friend took you by the hand and said, 'Come with me and I will teach you how to do some of the things you used to do when you could see.'? (p. 32)
Helen's message was focused on more than raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind. She was calling on Lions to provide service to lift up the blind and visually impaired, and help them to experience a meaningful life:
It is because my teacher learned about me and broke through the dark, silent imprisonment which held me that I am able to work for myself and for others. It is the caring we want more than money. The gift without the sympathy and interest of the giver is empty. If you care, if we can make the people of this great country care, the blind will indeed triumph over blindness. (p. 32)
Helen closed her ten-minute speech using an historic metaphor, suggesting that the crusade against darkness was a noble cause. She used an appeal that touched the hearts of the 5,000 Lions in attendance that day:
Will you not help me hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness; no little deaf, blind child untaught; no blind man or woman unaided? I appeal to you Lions, you who have your sight, your hearing, you who are strong and brave and kind. Will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in this crusade against darkness? (p. 32)
When Helen finished her speech, the Lions jumped to their feet and applauded enthusiastically.
Motions were made and seconded to make Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan honorary members in Lions Clubs International. Helen thanked the delegates and said she was happy and proud to be a Lion. Before the convention ended, sight conservation and work for the blind was adopted as a major service focus. It should be noted that the name of the focus was altered in 1976 to sight conservation and work with the blind to be more consistent with the desire of the visually impaired to gain independence (Martin, 1991, p. 60). As Martin and Kleinfelder (2008) so aptly concluded: "On most stops, Helen touched people's wallets; here she touched the soul of an organization" (p. 32).
The impact of Helen's message was significant and galvanized Lions Clubs into action. According to reports, prior to the 1925 convention, fifty-eight clubs were on record as having assisted the blind in some way. A year later, that number had nearly tripled to 143. Lions had felt the power of Helen's message calling for assistance to help the blind become more self-sufficient, self-respected, and self-supported.
The story of Helen Keller's address to the Lions in 1925 has been the rallying cry throughout the history of the association. The call to serve the needs of the blind and visually impaired gave a specific focus for Lions Clubs and became the brand by which Lions have been known ever since throughout the world. While assisting the blind as a signature cause has been held in highest esteem, Lions Clubs have defined their service for this cause in a variety of ways.
The Focus on Service for Lions
In order to understand how service in Lionism evolved during its first one hundred years, considering the different stages an organization goes through in its development is useful. Some scholars have looked at organizations from start to finish. For example, Lester, Parnell, and Carraher (2003) proposed that organizations move through five stages: existence, survival, maturity, renewal, and decline. When an organization is formed, it comes into existence. In this first stage, the focus is on attracting and keeping members. Survival is next as the organization pursues growth, sets targets, and builds its structure in order to overcome any internal or external challenges it may face. When an organization moves into the maturity stage, a more formal structure has been created and the hierarchy of leadership begins to manage organizational activities by delegation of authority and a chain of command. Because the maturity stage relies on more traditional and established ways of accomplishing organizational objectives, the fourth stage — renewal — is viewed as a creative and flexible management strategy available for use when the organization seeks to remain current and responsive to an ever-changing environment. If an organization becomes more focused on sustaining its structure than on meeting the societal needs for which it was originally formed, the final stage of decline will occur, and the organization will cease to exist.
With one hundred years of organizational history, LCI has experienced a number of challenges. To the credit of its leaders, Lions and LCI staff have worked very diligently to keep the organization moving forward and renewing itself through strategic planning. Most recently, the association introduced LCI Forward, a four-part strategy designed to enhance service impact and focus; reshape public opinion and improve visibility; pursue club, district, and organizational excellence; and improve membership value and reach new markets (Drumheller & Cherep, 2016).
Another way of looking at the evolution of an organization is to consider how it has grown. Greiner (1972) proposed four phases to describe organizational expansion: creative expansion, directional expansion, coordinated expansion, and collaborative expansion. Creative expansion occurs when people become aware of a need or problem in society and use that awareness to create an organization that enables them to respond. Directional expansion provides more structure in order to reach the desired objectives. For example, specific priorities are set and then authority is delegated to lower levels of management to accomplish the goals. Coordinated expansion provides for a broader management structure to meet the diverse needs of a larger organization. Finally, collaborative expansion enables an organization to become more inclusive of different perspectives and less resistant to sharing with its members the opportunities and responsibilities of serving growing needs on both global and domestic fronts.
In the case of Lions Clubs International, the creativity of Melvin Jones was stimulated by the need to establish an organization dedicated to providing service to others. To keep Lions motivated, direction was necessary for a more structured, grassroots expansion of the organization. As the organization continued its international growth, LCI needed a coordinated approach. Coordination enabled new clubs in emerging constitutional or geographic areas to benefit from past organizational learning as they expanded the practice of Lionism into their own new territories. Currently, collaboration has provided impact, as LCI is partnering with other entities to provide service to those in need. For example, Special Olympics and the LCI Opening Eyes program have partnered to provide vision and eye health screening to Special Olympics athletes.
These ways of looking at how organizations evolve are useful when considering how LCI has provided service throughout the first one hundred years. Table 2.1 provides a framework for understanding how service activities in Lions Clubs evolved from 1917 to 2017.
As LCI moved through the four stages of organizational development, phases of expansion shaped the service focus of the organization. From a broad perspective, service activities have focused on three areas: the local community, the global community, and specific programs promoted by the association. Because Lions Clubs are community-based organizations, Lions Clubs have served their local needs. Community needs include supporting youth, building infrastructure, and responding to events; such as, natural disasters, medical situations, and economic emergencies. Service to meet global needs include such things as supporting victims of natural disasters in other parts of the world and providing aid to troops and those displaced by war or other conflicts. The specific programs promoted by Lions Clubs International have been those set by the International officers and International Boards of Directors. While vision-related projects dominated, other health related projects, youth initiatives, and environmental efforts have motivated Lions to serve.
Throughout the history of LCI, some International Presidents intentionally included the word service in their presidential themes, as reflected in Table 2.2. This followed the adoption of the motto, We Serve! by the association in 1954. Other presidential themes focused on service through beliefs, challenges, goals, dreams, international harmony, opportunities, passions, peace, and quality, to name a few.
Because service is at the core of Lionism, the following section of this chapter provides a broad examination of how Lions Clubs focused their service efforts over the past one hundred years. The four stages of organizational development provide the framework to observe how the different phases of Lionism affected the focus of service for Lions Clubs.
The Existence Stage (1917–1925)
In the early years of the twentieth century, the needs of society compelled service-minded people to come together to create organizations focused on confronting the challenges and conditions of the day. Such was the case when LCI founder Melvin Jones and other early leaders brought the International Association of Lions Clubs into existence on June 7, 1917. Early Lions were often members of several service-guided organizations (e.g., Sertoma, Kiwanis, Optimists) because in the progressive era, the culture of the times promoted selflessness.
In addition to a focus on service, a growing awareness of internationalism due to the U.S. involvement in World War I was present among Americans with the financial and personal capacity to respond to these needs. War raised the awareness of people who saw the contrast between the quality of their lives in comparison with the suffering of those who had experienced war at first hand. The result was the banding together of like-minded people who were ready to devote themselves to the furtherance of human good (Kleinfelder & Brennan, n.d.). With the need for people to step up and respond to local and global needs during this first stage of existence, Lions Clubs directed their service activities to patriotic causes, community development, citizenship, youth programs, and health.
Patriotic Causes
One of the first service areas adopted by Lions Clubs was the war effort. World War I was underway and local clubs demonstrated their patriotism by selling war bonds, collecting books and magazines for soldiers, and raising funds for international medical aid and relief efforts. They provided recreation and entertainment for the troops and built infrastructure to support local military installations.
Lions found ways to provide personal service. They were encouraged to write letters to those stationed overseas and to undertake projects, such as purchasing bundles of yarn and giving them to community knitting clubs to make garments for soldiers. War orphans and widows were given clothing, milk and ice, and other daily necessities by Lions Clubs.
When the war ended, returning veterans joined existing Lions Clubs in order to provide humanitarian service. Because of their international awareness, these new Lions focused their efforts on helping to rebuild Europe; and often sponsored food ships bringing needed supplies to starving children in Europe. The families of those soldiers who did not return after the war also received much aid from Lions.
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Excerpted from "Stories from the Heart"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Robert S. Littlefield.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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Table of Contents
List of Tables, xi,
List of Figures, xiii,
Foreword, xv,
Introduction, 1,
Chapter 2 Lions Answer the Call, 13,
Chapter 3 The Call to Service, 53,
Chapter 4 Calling Others to Serve, 73,
Chapter 5 Stories from the Servant's Heart, 97,
Chapter 6 Confirming the Call to Serve, 147,
Epilogue, 157,
Acknowledgements, 169,
References, 173,
Index, 181,