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Lions International was founded in Chicago in 1917 and held its first convention that year in Dallas.
Eight years later, convention planners received an unexpected request. Helen Keller and her teacher and companion Annie Sullivan asked to address the 1925 Lions Club International Convention in Cedar Point, Ohio.
Already world famous as a deaf-blind author, the 45-year-old Keller urged the new service organization to take up the cause of the blind and deaf.
"She challenged the Lions to become knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness," Stallings said.
Speaking at the April 16 Pacific Lions dinner meeting, where four new members were inducted, Stallings recounted the historic event.
"From that point on, the Lions have worked to aid the blind and visually impaired," he said.
District Gov. Debbie Blumenberg, who inducted the new members, noted that used eyeglasses cannot be distributed in the United States because they are considered a medical prescription. The glasses are distributed to individuals in Third World countries who might never otherwise have glasses.
Blumenberg recounted a recent telephone call she received where a person complained that she had seen a woman at the bank trying on one pair of glasses after another in the Lions Club used eyeglasses basket, eventually taking a pair.
"We can't (legally) give the glasses to someone," she said. "But as far as I'm concerned if someone found a pair of glasses that helped them see I'm happy with that."
The Pacific Lions Club, founded in 1931, is not without its memorable blind person story, Stallings said.
"Many members recall when the club purchased a bus ticket for a blind hitchhiker on his way to Oklahoma," he said. "We gave him the ticket and instructions on how to go.
"Service to others has always been the mission of the club," Stallings told the new members. "And if you're going to be in the club, you're going to be asked to provide service to the community."
New members inducted in the club are Mary Hoven, Laura Noonan, Pauline Masson and Stephen Flannery III.
