Lions Clubs International officially launched their Centennial celebration July 8th, 2014 at the International Convention in Toronto. While acknowledging the past history of a century of service by the largest organization of it’s kind in the world, the Lion are taking steps to enter the second hundred years by celebrating and embarking upon an unprecedented goal of excellence.
The Centennial Celebration will be highlighted around the Centennial Service Challenge. The service challenge is an ambitious call to action for Lions around the world to serve 100 million people from now until June 30th, 2018. Our centennial celebration will focus on three main points:
- Honoring Our Past
- Highlighting Our Present
- Planning For Our Future
The Lions have a vibrant past, built around founder Melvin Jones’ famous quote, “You can’t get very far until you start doing something for somebody else.” It was upon that principle that our motto “We Serve” emerged. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Our organization has grown from humble beginnings and continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of communities around the world. Today, we are the world’s largest service club organization, perhaps even surpassing the vision of our founder. With Melvin Jones’ vision in mind, our Centennial celebration slogan is “Where There’s a Need, There’s a Lion.” This is as true today as it was in 1917.
Back in 1917, the very first Lions Convention was held in Dallas, Texas. In 2017, Texas Lions, and many outside the state, will gather in Dallas again for a memorable look at our Past, highlighting the Present and setting our sights on higher goals.
The Centennial celebration is designed to engage every Lions member, every Lions club, in every country and geographic area. This site will continue to expand as elements of our Centennial plan begin to unfold.
Read More: