In an impressive display of sportsmanship and personal courage, eight teams from across the state participated in a Blind Beep Baseball tournament sponsored by the Lions Club last month.

Dedicated to helping those with sight- and hearing impairments, the tournament was one of the many endeavors in which the Lions Club participates.

The club's commitment to help goes beyond collecting used eyeglasses and hearing aids that the Lions International reconditions and distributes worldwide, free of charge, to those in need.

The Bolingbrook Lions Club also helps support a blind "beep" baseball team, the Chicago Comets. This year’s event was the ninth consecutive hosted by the Lions, in which blind beep baseball teams from around the country compete. The event is now a regional tournament for the National Beep Baseball Association.

The Bolingbrook Lions Club budgets and spends $6,000 a year for sight- and hearing-related services to the needy residents of Bolingbrook. Until March 2009, the Bolingbrook club also served Romeoville, since there was no formal club established there. The Bolingbrook club became the sponsoring club for the new Romeoville Lions Club.

The Lions sponsor several local youth groups (T-Ball, BYBL, BALL, BCB, Boy Scout Troop 66, etc.), CRIS Radio (radio broadcasts for the blind), leader dogs, Operation Christmas, DuPage Township Food Pantry, Camp Lions for the Blind and more.

The Lions also sponsor health screenings for seniors, work with the schools in the area of sight and hearing (two recent screenings at middle schools resulted in 67 out of 87 children being referred for vision problems), and conduct sight, hearing and diabetic screenings for residents.

To accomplish these services, the Lions hold several fundraising events throughout the year, such as an annual golf outing and a Candy Day drive the second Friday in October.

Financial Assistance The Lions Club has adopted eyesight and hearing preservation as the primary focus of its charitable giving. Although the club supports many charities and assists community organizations in many ways, eyesight and hearing preservation requests receive preferential consideration for the club’s effort and resources.

Eyesight assistance takes many forms, from cataract surgery for the elderly to eyeglasses for seniors and youngsters whose families cannot afford the prescription glasses themselves. The club has purchased reading aids to help people with limited vision continue to function and lead active, productive lives.

The less privileged are referred to the club by social service organizations and physicians. Many times, they contact the Lions Club on their own behalf. Each request is carefully considered, and if approved, the applicant will be referred to professionals who participate with the Lions Clubs in the area of the applicant's needs. Funds are quietly made available directly to the recipient’s physician or health care organization.

History The Bolingbrook Lions Club was chartered as a member of Illinois Multi District 1B on Nov. 2, 1966. After some financial issues in the 1970s, the group experienced a resurgence in the 1980s.

During the period from 1981 to 1986, the club concentrated on serving the community, providing 35 to 50 pairs of eyeglasses and one or two hearing aids each year. By 1986, the club had grown to between 30 and 40 members, and by 1991, the Lions branched out and began making donations to the foundation, international and other organizations.

The club continued to provide an average of 45 pairs of glasses and four hearing aids per year. During the next several years, more and varied requests for service were honored. The Lions provided two sight-saving eye surgeries to individuals, paid for vehicle repairs for a family with a terminally ill child, donated to other agencies, sponsored local youth organizations and more.

The Lions purchased and equipped a van to be used by a family with a handicapped teen, donated an Optilec reader to a senior citizen, made a multi-year financial commitment to the park district and had Cherrywood Park renamed Lions Park.

As the club entered the new millennium, membership continued to grow, hovering between 85 and 95 active members. In early 2001, the club purchased an auto-refractor eye-screening machine to better serve the community — and has screened more than 400 people who could not afford the cost of the test. In 2008, the club purchased a tonometer to screen for glaucoma.

The International Association of Lions Clubs began as the dream of Chicago businessman Melvin Jones. He believed that local business clubs should expand their horizons from purely professional concerns to the betterment of their communities and the world at large.

Jones’ group, the Business Circle of Chicago, agreed. After contacting similar groups around the United States, an organizational meeting was held in Chicago June 7, 1917, and the new group took the name of one of the invited groups, the Association of Lions Clubs.

To date, the Lions in Bolingbrook has named 18 Melvin Jones Fellows and 32 Lions of Illinois Foundation Fellows. There are also two progressive Melvin Jones Fellows in the club.

The Lions Club service to the blind dates back to Helen Keller, who addressed the Lions international convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1925. She challenged Lions to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.”

From that time, Lions clubs have been actively involved in service to the blind and visually impaired.

In 1990, Lions launched its most aggressive sight-preservation effort, SightFirst, across the United States. The $143.5 million program strives to rid the world of preventable and reversible blindness by supporting desperately needed health care services.

In addition to sight programs, Lions Clubs International is committed to providing services for youth. Lions clubs also work to improve the environment, build homes for the disabled, support diabetes education, conduct hearing programs and, through their foundation, provide disaster relief around the world.

Lions Clubs International has grown to include 1.35 million men and women in 46,000 clubs in 204 countries and geographic areas.

The Bolingbrook Illinois Lions Club holds its meetings at 7:30 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month at the Bolingbrook Golf Course, 2001 Rodeo Drive, Bolingbrook.

The Romeoville Lions Club meets twice a month. The first meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, at the Romeoville Fire House #3 on Normantown Road and Birch Lane. The second meeting, on the third Monday, is held out in the community. All are welcome to attend.