Our Club and Mission

The Tellico Village Lions Club was chartered on November 22, 1999 by Lions Clubs International, and incorporated by the State of Tennessee, as a Public Benefit Corporation in 2003. In 1999, then Past District Governor, Bill Watkins (now Past International Director) from the Loudon Lions Club was a Guiding Lion and served to nurture the new Tellico Village Lions Club during its infancy.  Many of the original 27 Tellico Village Lions Club members, remain active in Lionism today, while several have passed on.  The original President (King Lion) was Lion Joe Klint followed by Lion Jerry Pridemore who served several terms as President. Lions Howard Higby and Al Sponholz, both charter members, are still acive in the club today.

Today the club averages about 55 members with membership having been as high as 67 in the recent past.

To better understand our club, it’s history and  rich heritage of  community service projects and community outreach initiatives, please click on the Lions logo below. This video was created for our 20th Anniversary Celebration on November 22, 2019.

Lions Logo 2

If you would like more information on how you can volunteer and become a member of our club, please contact  any Lions officer or member listed on the Membership List tab of this website, or ask to attend one of our monthly meetings.

Lions International’s  History and Mission

For more information on Lions Club International’s  History and Mission refer to their website: http://www.lionsclubs.org or view some videos by clicking on each of the Lions logos below:

Lions Logo 2  Lions Logo 2Lions Logo 2

Saving Sight for Millions Worldwide

For nearly 100 years, our members have worked to prevent blindness, restore eyesight and improve eye care for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Lions volunteer to take part in sight projects that are:

• Saving the sight of more than 14 million children by providing eye screenings, glasses, and other treatments through Sight for Kids.

• Preventing serious vision loss for more than 30 million people worldwide.

• Providing more than 7 million cataract surgeries.

• Establishing or strengthening pediatric eye care centers that have helped more than 120 million children.

• Distributing more than 147 million treatments for river blindness.

• Vaccinating 41 million children in Africa against measles – a leading cause of childhood blindness.

• Improving eye care for 100 million people by training more than 650,000 eye care professionals and building 315 eye hospitals.

• Helping halt the spread of trachoma in Ethiopia by providing 10 million doses of the sight-saving drug azithromycin.

Since 1990, Lions have donated more than $450 million to help provide vision for all. Since 1990 the Tellico Village Lions have made over $625,000 in contributions to various Lions programs and local charities.

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