2020-2021 LCIF Annual Report

Thirty years ago, I was helping my husband create materials to promote Lions Clubs International Foundation’s first fundraising campaign, SightFirst. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to be part of Lions; part of something bigger and on an international scale. It is my honor to serve alongside my fellow Lions. Now, as I pen this letter closing out my second year as LCIF Chairperson, I am also extremely proud to have been part of the foundation’s most historic campaign to date: Campaign 100.

The last two years have been like no other. When I began my role as LCIF chairperson in 2019, I imagined a full year of travels, visiting Lions and LCIF-funded projects throughout the world. As we well know, the pandemic drastically changed all our plans. But it provided a great opportunity to showcase our resilience, tenacity, and creativity to do what Lions do best—serve.

As chairperson, I am often asked: “Of the projects you visited, which is your favorite?” The honest answer?

Every project I had the good fortune of witnessing is my favorite.

Every project I heard about is my favorite.

Every project planned for the future is my favorite.

That’s because all projects change our communities for the better.

I know for many life is still difficult, and some may be worried about the future of serving our communities. This is exactly why LCIF is so important. We will emerge from this pandemic, and our service to our world must continue. LCIF, our global foundation, is there to magnify hope for those in need.

To Lions, partners, and friends of LCIF who showed such tremendous support this year, thank you for ensuring LCIF can continue empowering those serving to improve health and well-being, strengthen communities, and protect the vulnerable. And to all, I thank you for the honor and privilege of serving as LCIF chairperson for two years.

In friendship,

Gudrun Yngvadottir
Chairperson, Lions Clubs International Foundation

Campaign 100: Empowering Service

The largest capital fundraising campaign in Foundation history launched in July 2017 with a goal to raise US$300 million by June 2022.

Campaign 100 will enable the Foundation to empower the service of Lions for generations to come. As they have since 2017, Past International Presidents Dr. Jitsuhiro Yamada and J. Frank Moore III continue to lead the campaign at the international level as chairperson and vice chairperson, respectively.

The Need Continues

Fiscal year 2020-2021 began amid the COVID-19 pandemic and with prior year fundraising challenges continuing. Also underscoring the ongoing need for Campaign 100 were global issues beyond the pandemic. Natural disasters came like clockwork. Childhood cancers were diagnosed. Diabetes challenges continued, as did food insecurity, eye disease, environmental concerns, and issues facing youth.

With a focus on Lions’ and Leos’ ability to serve more meaningfully in both the near-term and coming decades, Campaign 100 will continue to: increase service impact, support the fight against diabetes, and advance global causes.

Enjoy a selection of stories from around the world from the 2020-2021 LCIF Annual Report.  The impact featured in these stories is made possible from all the generous donations. To read all of this year’s stories, plus grant information, and more campaign updates, visit lionsclubs.org/Responsibility for the digital LCIF Annual Report.

Providing Relief During Disaster

In 2020, the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was enough for anyone to bear. For some residents of Central America, it was only half the battle.

In early November 2020, Category 4 Hurricane Eta devastated parts of Central America. With torrential rainfall, winds peaking at 150 miles per hour, and catastrophic flooding, Eta was the most intense November Atlantic hurricane since 1932. That distinction, however, was not to last. Just two weeks after Eta wreaked havoc on the area, deadly Hurricane Iota made its way to land, sending residents into further despair.

Hurricanes Eta and Iota took hundreds of lives while leaving in their wake billions of dollars in damage. As they bore the weight of a deadly virus, children and families surviving the natural disasters were forced to battle more unfathomable challenges. Lions were there with storm victims in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and Honduras, delivering comfort and care. There with Lions was LCIF, providing US$80,000 in Disaster grants for life-sustaining food, water tanks, cooktops, roof coverings, blankets, and cleaning supplies.

Navigating Diabetes at Camp Koala

Along Australia’s southwest coast, just outside Melbourne, is beautiful Camp Wyuna, which each year provides fun in the sun for thousands of youth. Twenty-one of those, each with type 1 diabetes, had a unique camp experience thanks to Lions and LCIF.

With a US$10,499 LCIF Diabetes grant, and in partnership with Australia-based Type1 Foundation, which connects medical practitioners and educators to newly diagnosed families, Lions facilitated Camp Koala. The camp helped teens learn to manage their disease through classes on diet, insulin and glucose level management, and healthy lifestyle. Aware of challenges often accompanying adolescence, Lions also ensured the seven-day camp stressed independence, self-esteem, and emotional wellbeing, tapping six Type1 Foundation mentors – young adults with diabetes – to interact with campers peer-to-peer.

To further enhance the weeklong experience, campers also enjoyed activities including laser tag, a boat cruise, and adventure park exploration.

Said one Camp Koala participant, “I’ve met so many amazing people and friends. I’m so grateful I had the chance to attend. I can’t say thank you enough.”

Planting Hope for a Healthier World

With an eye to a healthier future for their community, themselves, and generations to come, Leos in Brescia Province of Italy took action to improve the city of Chiari and the health and well-being of those in the area – human and wildlife alike. Together, the young humanitarians created a tranquil forest to reduce smog and provide a peaceful and lush area for recreation and physical activity.

With a US$2,500 LCIF Leo Service grant, and in collaboration with Lions and experts from the city’s agricultural institute, Leos designed the forest, selected the sapling provider, and determined tree species compatible with the local climate and terrain. Within three months of receiving grant approval, 35 Leos and Lions had planted the new, sustainable Leo and Lion Forest, 100 new trees breathing fresh air and hope into the city.

Generations to come will benefit from the forest, which serves as inspiration for other communities to be good stewards of the environment. Leos continue collaborating with Lions and the local municipality to raise additional funds to ensure project sustainability.

Feeding Souls in Seoul

Loved ones hospitalized. Lives lost. Milestone moments missed. Some devastation wrought by COVID-19 is easily quantified, readily apparent. Look deeper, however, and you find the less obvious fallout. That is exactly what Lions in Korea did, uncovering an unexpected consequence of the pandemic. A community desperate for food, no means to access it, and starved for emotional connection as well.

With the pandemic’s rise and lockdowns in place, homeless and seniors living near Seoul’s major rail station and in nearby jjokbang villages—areas of tiny one-room residences in low-income neighborhoods— were unable to travel to access free meal service. Compounding the problem? Volunteers normally delivering lifelines of food and companionship to the area’s most vulnerable rarely arrived. Quite literally, residents were starving.

Learning of the crises, Lions mobilized, using US$7,058 in LCIF District and Club Community Impact grant funds to create boxed meals. In collaboration with, and sponsorship from, various local organizations, Lions sourced food for 500 meals, cooking, packaging, then delivering nourishing boxed lunches—and hope—to those in desperate need.

Identifying Needs, Delivering Solutions

Under the best of circumstances, waiting months for a child’s medical appointment can be frustrating. Enduring the actual visit evokes anxiety as well. During a pandemic, apprehension only compounds.

Serving a five-state area in the United States, the Minnesota Lions Children’s Hearing and ENT Clinic (LCHC) is a leader in diagnosing and treating children with ear, nose, and throat disorders.

Since opening roughly a decade ago, the clinic has seen audiology exam demand rise 20 percent. The challenge? Significantly longer wait times for appointments. The solution? LCIF and Lions.

With a US$15,980 LCIF Matching grant, Lions purchased an additional sound booth and accompanying audiology equipment, expanding the clinic’s capacity to serve an additional 1,000 patients annually, reducing appointment wait times, and providing a safer environment during the pandemic.

“This technology allows us to assess…in a fraction of the time it took with older technology,” said one LCHC audiologist. “With young children, having technology to check hearing devices, test hearing, and assess benefit all in one location – not switching rooms mid-appointment – makes a world of difference. And with increased infection control procedures needed due to COVID-19, our team is able to be more efficient with cleaning.”

Educating Future Educators

Social and emotional skills, knowledge, and attitudes are critical in both the classroom and in life. Helping students worldwide better navigate challenges in school, at home, and in the community is Lions Quest, LCIF’s premier social and emotional learning (SEL) program fostering schoolchildren’s ability to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Also critical to students’ social and emotional growth are teachers with their own highly developed and practiced SEL skills.

Recognizing the importance of SEL to its country’s future, Canada’s University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education ensured that more than 160 university students completing practicum coursework had access to Lions Quest SEL resources and lessons. The goal? Ensure future educators gain new SEL skills and knowledge to better support students’ social and emotional development, during elementary school teaching practicum experiences and beyond.

“Next generation teachers must keep students’ social and emotional development top of mind,” said Lion Lucy Johnson, Canada’s District C-2 Lions Quest chairperson and a sessional seminar instructor at the university. “Well-adjusted and emotionally secure students are our country’s and the world’s path forward. Our future depends on our ability to develop these traits in students, and Lions Quest is imperative to helping children cope with academic and social stresses in school, at home, and as they make their way in the world.”

Peace and Playtime for Children Battling Cancer

Fortunately, most youth will never experience the physical and emotional toll childhood cancer takes. Nor will their parents and families. Yet childhood cancer is the reality for many, including those seeking to regain health and set lives back on course at Taipei Medical University Hospital’s Cancer Center.

To better serve pediatric cancer patients and families from Taipei and nearby areas, and to prepare for an expected increase in patients in the next five years, the Center constructed a new building. Though filled with advanced medical equipment and systems, something was missing. The new facility lacked a special space where young patients could leave cancer behind and enter a universe dedicated solely to the joys of childhood.

Enter LCIF and Lions. Recognizing a need to heal both body and mind, Lions applied US$150,000 in LCIF Childhood Cancer grant funds, as well as US$220,000 raised locally, to help construct a child-focused area within Taipei Cancer Center’s new building. The space, which includes a playground, reading area, and multimedia equipment, helps young patients’ imaginations and spirits soar and parents and caretakers set aside worry and stress wrought by a devastating childhood disease.

Expanding Access to Eye Care

In Zambia, the prevalence of blindness among all age groups is estimated to be 1 percent, meaning in the southern Luapula province approximately 7,400 people are blind. According to Zambia’s Ministry of Health, more than 80 percent of all cases of blindness in the country are preventable, treatable, curable. Why then the devastating rate of blindness? The answer lies in historically limited eye disease identification and eye care treatment.

With a goal to reduce avoidable blindness a staggering 51 percent before 2025, and with a US$606,667 LCIF SightFirst grant, Lions in Zambia and local partners began a five-year endeavor to expand access to primary eye care and cataract surgical services in southern Luapula. Grant funds are helping renovate and equip primary eye units, build human resource capacity, and establish a mobile outreach program.

In year one, LCIF grant funds have been instrumental in training community health workers to identify cases of cataract; screening nearly 19,000 residents for various eye conditions; and delivering more than 250 cataract surgeries to improve or restore sight.

Since 1968, LCIF has funded global humanitarian service, deepening Lions’ and Leos’ commitment to both those in great need and their communities. Visit LCIF.org to learn more about how together, we continue to magnify hope.