Agency Posts Lions Campaign Growth for 2020, Schedules Next Campaign for January
The Center for Vision Loss announced today that its Lions Needs Campaign produced a revenue increase in 2019-2020 and that its 2020-2021 campaign will start in January.
The 2019-2020 Lions campaign, which closed on June 30, raised a total of $50,674, a growth of approximately 6% over the prior year, said Dennis Zehner, Executive Director of the Center for Vision Loss.
As part of its annual Lions campaigns, the agency sends area Lions Clubs a list of selected needs. The clubs determine how much support they wish to provide and to what need it would be designated. The campaign is highlighted by the Lions4Sight Breakfast, during which club representatives are honored for their generosity and pledge their new gifts.
The 2019-2020 Lions campaign was the first in which both Lehigh County and Northampton County Lions Clubs from Pennsylvania Lions District 14-K and Monroe County Lions Clubs from Pennsylvania District 14-U participated.
Typical Lions campaigns begin in the summer with distribution of the agency’s needs list, and the Lions4Sight Breakfast is held usually in October or November. Because area Lions Clubs have not been able to hold their respective fundraising events in the spring of 2020 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-2021 campaign will begin in January. The Lions4Sight Breakfast will be held on Saturday, March 13, at the Northampton and Event Center in Northampton, PA.
The Center for Vision Loss traces its existence to 1928 when Lions Clubs formed two agencies in Lehigh and Northampton counties at the direct urging of legendary teacher and activist Helen Keller. The Northampton County agency, which had expanded services to Monroe County, was consolidated into the original Lehigh County agency in 2010 and the organization’s current name was adopted.
The Center for Vision Loss empowers people with visual impairments to seize their independence and opportunity and champions healthy eyesight throughout its communities. With operations in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley and Monroe County, it combines a service tradition motivated by Helen Keller in 1928 with contemporary practices and advanced technologies. Its services for people with visual impairments promote the accomplishment of daily tasks, increased access to medical services and food supplies, enhanced personal wellness, and extended self-sufficiency. Its free vision screenings for children stimulate success in school and its community education programs advocate for eye health and safety. All agency services are provided at little or no cost, and 85% of its clients and patients with visual impairments are from low-income households.
The Center for Vision Loss is an independent member of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (PAB) that is accredited nationally by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) and affiliated with the VisionServe Alliance, a network of North American agencies that serve people with visual impairments.