Speaker Notes for LCIF Photo Overview PowerPoint

1. We live in a dangerous, unpredictable world, as evidenced by the tsunami in South Asia. Other recent large-scale natural disasters Lions have responded to include the two earthquakes in Turkey in 1999 that killed more than 17,000 people and the earthquake in Gujarat, India, in 2001 that claimed more than 25,000 lives. Sometimes the disasters are not due to nature's wrath, but the Lions respond generously: I'm referring to the attack on the World Trade Center.
   
   
2. A child goes blind every minute. Every five seconds a person goes blind. Think about that. Count to five and someone will never again see their children, the face of a loved one, a sunset, a tree. The tragedy is that 80 percent of blindness either could have been prevented or could be cured. And blindness is not only a personal tragedy but drags down the economies of countries. The lost productivity is occurring in nations that can least afford it.
   
   
3. So-called river blindness, technically known as onchocerciasis,  affects 118 million people. Nine million people are blind from it. What is river blindness?  It's a gruesome disease. It's caused by the bite of a tiny black fly infected with a parasite. The bite of the fly unleashes worms inside the body. The worms lay eggs. An infected person may be plagued by as many 150 million first-stage larvae inside his body. A person is agitated by severe itching and rashes before blindness sets in.
   
   The social consequences are devastating. Young adults, normally the caretakers of their parents, are forced to rely on their mothers and fathers to survive. Children whose parents lose their sight must drop out of school to support the family. The elderly who are blind, instead of serving as models of grace and dignity to the generations that follow, are led around by long sticks by children as young as three years old.
   
   
4. Unoperated cataract is a scourge to humanity. A cataract for a person in the United States and other developed countries usually means treatment in an outpatient setting, followed by a quick recovery with good vision. The only downside may be a heightened sense of aging and mortality. It's a far different story in developing countries. Twenty million people can't see because of cataracts, the leading cause of blindness. People can't afford the operation, or eye care specialists simply aren't available. In some areas, people are completely unaware that the disease can be thwarted.
   
   
5. This person suffers from trachoma, which has been blinding people since the time the pharaohs ruled ancient Egypt. This is another horrible disease. An infection causes the eyelashes to turn inward and rub against the cornea, eventually causing scarring and blindness
   
   The disease particularly preys on the most innocent and defenseless-small children and babies. Their dirty faces provide a perfect breeding ground for the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, which is often passed on to others by flies. Mothers and other women who come into contact with children with an infected eye also are prone to catch the disease. Though now nearly eradicated in industrialized nations, trachoma remains devastatingly prevalent in undeveloped countries marked by poverty, poor hygiene and overcrowding.
   
   
6. I think you all would agree that life is not easy even if you're mostly healthy and middle-class. Just think of the daily troubles and annoyances faced by the disabled. They live in a society designed for the able-bodied. One of the funding priorities of LCIF is combating disability.
   
   
7. In a world of trouble and suffering, LCIF stands tall. LCIF represents help, hope and healing. Lions open their hearts and wallets to those in need. Through LCIF, Lions ease pain and suffering and bring hope and happiness to all corners of the world.
   
   In the 2004 fiscal year alone, LCIF approved US$20 million for 458 grants. Much of those grants went to the most vulnerable among us: the disabled, the elderly, children, the poor.
   
   Lions make a global impact through LCIF, which, as you know, is the grant-making arm of the Lions Clubs International. LCIF partners with Lions clubs worldwide in carrying out humanitarian projects, ranging from preventing river blindness in Nigeria and remedying cataract in China to building homes for the disabled in the United States and meeting basic needs of victims of earthquakes and floods around the world.
   
   Melvin Jones, our great founder, once said, "You can't get very far until you start doing something for someone else." We Lions like to think we've gotten fairly far because our precise mission is to help others.
   
   
8. LCIF is Lions helping Lions. It's the only Lions' foundation that serves the entire world and all 1.4 million Lions.
   
   LCIF is a necessary and vital tool for Lions, helping Lions serve others. Why is LCIF needed? LCIF helps LCI respond effectively to global problems. LCIF enables Lions to help Lions in times of disaster and natural calamity. LCIF funds projects too big for districts or clubs to do on their own. LCIF responds to the local needs of Lions and develops grant programs that serve community needs.
   
   
9. LCIF is all about enabling Lions to help others, as with LCIF's partnership with Special Olympics.
   
   The Special Olympics Opening Eyes Program deserves a gold medal. The partnership was launched in 2001 thanks to a three-year US$3.3 million grant from LCIF. Athletes at select Special Olympics games receive free eye exams, and, if needed, free glasses and sports goggles on the spot. They also are checked for glaucoma and other eye diseases. The screenings have resulted in better vision in a chronically underserved population and have prevented blindness through early detection of disease. To date, nearly 70,000 athletes have undergone vision screenings. In June 2003, LCIF approved an additional US$2 million to extend the program for an additional 18 months until June 2005. In 2004, LCIF once more extended the partnership. This time it was for 30 months with a US$3.85 million grant. The new grant will fund 270 Opening Eyes screening events worldwide with volunteer support from several thousand Lions clubs.
   
   
   
10. LCIF is humanitarian service. One example of that service, shown in this slide, is the LEHP (pronounced leap) program. This Lion in Connecticut is helping a man get his eyes tested. LEHP was begun in the United States in 1994 to combat preventable blindness in developed countries. Thanks to LEHP, millions of people have become aware of the "sneak thieves of sight"-glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Warned about the danger, people have visited doctors or undergone eye screenings. Blindness has been prevented.
    
    LEHP is an educational outreach program, though some districts choose to add a screening component, too. Lions clubs taking part in LEHP use a Community Outreach Super Kit that contains videos, brochures and posters that spread awareness about eye disease. The LEHP program is operational in Australia, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Turkey.
    
    
11. LCIF is a big supporter of the disabled. Typical grants include expanding a Lions' hearing dog training facility in Australia, equipping a cerebral palsy children's center in Portugal and enlarging a school for the disabled in Sri Lanka.
    
    
12. When disaster strikes, Lions respond through LCIF. As mentioned, following the earthquake in Turkey, LCIF gave US$2 million to build more than 100 single-family homes, two large schools, a couple of daycare centers, a university dormitory and a health center/student center.
    
    
13. LCIF provided a US$500,000 major catastrophe grants  for earthquake relief in Gujarat, India. LCIF rebuilt 750 homes and 20 schools and partnered with a steel company to build a Lions general hospital.
    
    Lions worldwide responded generously to Sept. 11, and US$3 million poured in to LCIF to support relief efforts. The Sept. 11 Disaster Relief Fund was used to allow Lions to do their traditional hands-on service while addressing the particular social and emotional needs of families directly impacted by Sept. 11. LCIF and Lions sponsored dozens of bereavement retreats where children and families dealt with their grief and offered services such as job training, mentoring for children and assistance for the disabled.  
    
    
14. LCIF's main focus is blindness prevention. Since 1925, when Helen Keller challenged the Lions to be the "knights of the blind," Lions have trained dog guides for the visually impaired, managed camps for blind children and otherwise assisted the blind. LCIF upped the ante in 1991 when it began its SightFirst program. The goal of SightFirst is to reduce and eliminate blindness especially in developing countries plagued by unnecessary blindness.
    
    
    How is LCIF doing in its goal to reduce blindness? SightFirst has been a tremendous success. Thanks to SightFirst, Lions have restored sight to 4.6 million people through cataract surgeries, prevented serious vision loss for 20 million people and improved eye care services for hundreds of millions.
    
    
15. More than 60 million treatments for river blindness have been delivered. The disease is controlled by annual doses of ivermectin (Mectizan®), donated by Merck & Co. SightFirst partners with the Carter Center (yes, that's President Jimmy Carter's center) on an initiative to control river blindness and trachoma in Africa and Latin America. The disease may be eliminated in Latin America by 2010.
    
    
16. LCIF not only fights disease through surgery and medication but trains healthcare workers and upgrades hospitals and their equipment and supplies. SightFirst has built or expanded 207 eye hospitals/clinics/wards, upgraded 314 eye centers with equipment, provided management training for 92 facilities and trained 83,500 ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses, other professional eye care workers and village health workers.
    
    
17. LCIF and Lions truly do a world of good. In a typical year, LCIF provides grants for more than 60 countries. The grants fund projects in countries from A to Z, ranging from equipping a glaucoma eye treatment center in Algeria to providing flood relief in Zambia. From east (purchasing a bloodmobile in Taiwan) to west (building homes for the disabled in the United States), from north (developing a youth rehabilitation center in Norway) to south (conducting a cataract surgical campaign in Peru), LCIF does a world of good.
    
    
18. Thanks to LCIF, this hospital was built in India.
    
    The great thing about the hospitals and eye centers built by LCIF is that often eye care was nonexistent or very limited before LCIF jumped in. SightFirst constructed or expanded 17 eye hospitals in areas of India where eye care was totally unavailable. The SightFirst China Action Project, supported in part by a five-year, US$15.3 million grant, supported 2.1 million cataract surgeries and established eye units in 104 counties where there were none. Phase II of SightFirst China Action, made possible by an LCIF grant for US$15.5 million, will support an additional 2.5 million cataract surgeries.
    
    
19. Lions are masters of disaster, coming in to lend a hand when nature wreaks havoc. In fiscal 2004, LCIF made 155 emergency grants, most of them for US$10,000. The grants went toward immediate relief supplies for natural disasters.
    
    
20. Lions need to continue to be generous to LCIF. The needs are great. Millions of people with hopes and dreams just like yourself depend on LCIF.
    
    
21. LCIF is a wonderful vehicle for making a difference in people's lives. Every dollar donated goes toward a grant; the foundation's administrative costs are paid for by interest on investments. Administrative costs averaged 10.8 percent in 2004, among the best for non-profits. And every dollar donated is leveraged. LCIF grants are commonly matched with local funding, meaning a contribution is worth substantially more than its face value.
    
    
22. Help LCIF help Lions help others. We all want a better world. LCIF helps make that come true.