Lions Clubs have a long tradition of channelling fundraising efforts and running projects which help the world’s blind and visually impaired, and current estimates are that more than 100 million lives around the world have been improved as a result of Lions efforts. However without further efforts, it is predicted that the world’s blind population could double by 2020
Campaign Sightfirst II is a new initiative of Lions Club International following on from a previous similar campaign . Some of the successes of the earlier campaign include the building of eye hospitals in less developed parts of the world and funding eye disease research, but with the world’s rapidly growing and aging population, there are now new patterns of eye disease emerging, many of which are preventable. The major threats are cataract blindness, glaucoma , diabetic eye disease and river blindness.
The aim of this new project is raise US$150million to tackle these new threats.
Chippenham Lions intend to play a full part in fundraising for this campaign, which extends until 2008, and support of this initiative has been one of the club’s main targets for fundraising during the last 2 years.
Campaign SightFirst II is a coordinated, global fund-raising effort involving all 1.4 million Lions in 46,000 clubs to raise US$150 million for the SightFirst program. It is conducted by Lions Clubs International Foundation, the grant-making arm of the International Association of Lions Clubs.
In the past 15 years, Lions have done more to prevent blindness and restore sight than in their previous 65 years as “knights of the blind.” In a decade-and-a-half, Lions have prevented severe vision loss or restored sight to 24 million people – more than the combined populations of New York and Tokyo..
SightFirst’s strategy of containing and eliminating the leading causes of blindness, creating sustainable eye-health systems, and training eye-care workers who will serve their communities for years to come, makes it extraordinarily effective and remarkably efficient. On average, just £4 can save one person from a life of darkness.
Click on the link below to learn more about the SightFirst programme or contact Chippenham lions at welfare@chippenhamlions.org.uk or phone us on 0845 833 5727.
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