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Lions Pride Endowment Fund of Wisconsin

~ Today's Help, Tomorrow's Hope for Lions Camp and all WLF Projects

Lions Pride Endowment Fund of Wisconsin

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Diabetes Awareness Month

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by lionspridewi in Giving Tips, News, Special Events

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adults, blindness, cdc, diabetes awareness, diabetic retinopathy, exercise, fall, football, funding, garden, gift, healthy lifestyle, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney problems, library, lions club international, lions pride, local, nerve damage, november, project, screening, strides event, stroke, support group, thanksgiving, type 1, type 2

We have arrived at the eleventh month of the year. If we were to ask you, “What is the Strides Lions for Diabetes Awarenessfirst topic that comes to mind when you think about November?”; what would you say? More than likely, your response would include something related to Thanksgiving, football or fall, but there is one other topic that should come to mind – diabetes. November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and we think it’s time to spread the word about the growing epidemic.

Diabetes is a long-lasting disease that impacts how your body turns food into energy. According to the CDC, approximately 30.3 million American adults have diabetes, and 1 in 4 don’t even know that they have the disease. People with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes are at higher risk for other serious health complications including blindness, kidney problems, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, nerve damage and more. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for diabetes at this time, but it is treatable with healthy lifestyle changes.

Lions Club International adopted diabetes awareness at a long-term commitment back in 1984. The primary object was to reduce the number of new cases of blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy. Wisconsin Lions are always on a mission to actively support LCI’s efforts, but November is an excellent opportunity to reach an even larger audience. If you and your club are looking to make a difference in the world of diabetes awareness, here are a few project ideas, courtesy of Lions Club International:

  • Conduct a local diabetes screening – Partner with healthcare professionals to carry out the event. Organizations such as government health departments, universities, hospitals and private physicians will often agree to perform free of low-cost public screenings. Learn more about getting started.
  • Organize a Strides event in your community – A Strides event is a highly visible, family-oriented activity that combines fun with exercise. Events can include walking, dancing, cycling or running. Find out more about organizing one today.
  • Start planning a school or community garden – Spring may not be top of mind this time of year, but it’s never too early to start thinking about next season gardening. Having fruits and vegetables readily available is always a great way to encourage others to make healthy meal choices.
  • Provide your local library with an annual diabetes magazine subscription – You can find industry publications with subscriptions as low as $10 a year. Talk about an affordable way to reach all curious library visitors!
  • Create a support group for those affected with diabetes – A support group will give you a chance to educate and inform others while creating a safe space for families suffering.

World Diabetes Day is Friday, November 15. There’s never been a better time to start planning a project to increase diabetes awareness. Already working on a large service project, or don’t think there’s enough time to get one started this month? You and your club can still help spread the word. When you support Lions Pride, you can designate your gift specifically for the WLF’s Diabetes Project – ensuring funding in perpetuity. Diabetes is no match to the power of Lions. Together, we can all work to inform and educate others to help prevent and control diabetes.

 

Is Presidents’ Day a Real Holiday?

16 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by lionspridewi in News, Special Events

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Abraham Lincoln, celebration, chief executive, federal, fish, founder, George Washington, holiday, learn, library, lions pride, organizations, presidents day, speeches, Uniform Monday Holiday Act, weekend

presidents-dayIf you’ve recently looked at the calendar, you probably already know that we have an upcoming national holiday approaching. Presidents’ Day 2017 is next Monday, February 20. Banks and other federal organizations close for the day and every furniture store it town seems to have the best sale of the year as a way to celebrate the occasion but is it a real holiday?

The answer is yes! Although this holiday may not be as widely celebrated as others, Presidents’ Day is a true holiday. The story of the observance began in the year 1800. After President George Washington’s death, his birthday (February 22) became a day of remembrance; however, it didn’t officially become a nationally recognized holiday until 1879.

In the late 1960’s, Washington’s Birthday began to shift to Presidents’ Day. Congress proposed a law known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to consolidate several federal holidays into pre-determined Mondays. The proposed change was to create additional three-day weekends and reduce employee absenteeism. A provision was included in the law to combine the celebration of Washington’s Birthday with Abraham Lincoln’s, which fell on February 12. The act was passed in 1968 and took effect in 1971 under President Richard Nixon. The holiday was then changed from February 22 to the third Monday of February.

Washington and Lincoln remain two of the most nationally recognized leaders, but Presidents’ Day is now seen as a day to honor all of America’s chief executives, both past and present.

Presidents’ Day may not be as large of a celebration as other holidays such as Independence Day, but that doesn’t mean we can’t commemorate the occasion. We have a couple of ideas to get you started:

  • Enjoy fish for dinner, which George Washington’s favorite meal, according to his wife, Martha.
  • Honor The Great Emancipator by reading any of Lincoln’s well-known speeches.
  • Learn more about the founders of our great nation or a president of your own generation. It’s always a wonderful time to visit your local library.

Presidents’ Day is only a few days away, how do you plan to celebrate?

Happy Presidents’ Day from Lions Pride!

World Sight Day 2016

06 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by lionspridewi in Lions Camp, News, Special Events

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#lions100, braille, centennial service challenge, children, community, diabetes education, difference, eye care professionals, eye health, eyeglass recycling center, eyeglasses, guide dog, IAPB, library, lions club international, lions pride, presentation, safety, self-help group, vision screening, visually impaired, world health organization, world sight day, worldwide week of service

It’s time to open our eyes and really focus on the world around us. Help us celebrate World world-sight-day-2016Sight Day on October 13, 2016.

World Sight Day is a day for organizations all over the globe to shine light on preventable blindness. 2016 is the fourth year of the World Health Organization Action Plan; this year’s Call to Action is “Stronger Together.” This year, IAPB is encouraging all participants to focus on all the stakeholders who are essential to successful eye care delivery such as doctors, schools, donors and more. After all, we are stronger when we work together.

You may have already noticed that World Sight Day falls right in the middle of Lions Worldwide Week of Service – this is no coincidence! You and your club have an excellent opportunity to save sight in your community while also participating in the Centennial Service Challenge.

We know, first-hand, that one of the biggest challenges of starting a service project is actually the decision of selecting which project to undertake. Below are a few project suggestion ideas from Lions Clubs International:

  1. Work with local eye care professionals to organize an eye health and safety presentation.
  2. Sponsor a Braille exhibit at your local library.
  3. Conduct vision and diabetes screenings for elderly persons at local residential living facilities.
  4. Provide local schools with assistive technology to help meet the needs of students who are blind or visually impaired.
  5. Organize a community “sight walk” to raise funds in support of Lions Pride or other organization.
  6. Arrange for a person with a guide dog to be a guest presenter at your club’s community event.
  7. Hold an educational event to promote diabetes awareness and related vision loss.
  8. Provide braille books to children and adults who are blind.
  9. Collect and send used eyeglasses to the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center.
  10. Organize a community self-help group for persons who are blind/visually impaired.

No matter how you choose to serve, know that you are making a huge difference to the sight of your community. Don’t forget to use the hashtag, #lions100, if posting your service projects to social media!

On behalf of all of us at Lions Pride, we’d like to wish you a successful Worldwide Week of Service!

National Braille Literacy Month

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by lionspridewi in News, Special Events

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alphabet, american printing house for the blind, audio books, blindness, braille code, braille literacy crisis, exercise, january, library, lions camp, lions pride, louis braille, national braille literacy month, new year, perkins brailler, readers, rehabilitation act of 1973, resolutions, special needs, success, talking computers, the lord of the rings, typewriter, unemployment rate, visually impaired, wisconsin lions foundation

Part of Lions Camp Braille Library

Part of Lions Camp Braille Library

What is the first thought that comes to mind when you think about the month of January? You probably think about the New Year and resolutions, exercise, and healthy eating, but did you know that January is also is National Braille Literacy Month?

As you already know, Lions Pride is dedicated to preserving, protecting and providing for Lions Camp, which serves both children and adults with special needs, including blindness.

What you might not know is Lions Camp has a fairly large Braille Library for its campers to utilize. Denise Rocha from LPEF spoke with Jamie Jannusch, Lions Camp’s Assistant Camp Director this week. Jamie showed Denise the bookshelves full of Braille books including the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series. “I was surprised by how big and thick the books were, it looks like it takes several volumes to make up even one book,” said Denise.

When asked who uses the books more, Jamie told Denise the books get much more use during the week we serve adult blind and visually impaired campers in comparison to the weeks we serve children.

In addition to the books, Denise told us she learned Lions Camp also has a Perkins

Perkins Brailler at Lions Camp

Perkins Brailler at Lions Camp

Brailler which is a machine similar to a typewriter, but instead of letters, it punches the Braille alphabet into the paper.

Now that you have learned all that, you can certainly understand why National Braille Literacy Month is near and dear to our hearts.

The Braille code has been around for quite some time. Louis Braille first developed the system at age 15 in 1824. It was introduced to the United States in 1869, but not adopted into the Standard English code until 1932. From that time until the early 1960s, many blind children were taught to read and write using Braille.

Unfortunately, after 1965, the literacy rate drastically declined. According to the American Printing House for the Blind, in 2014, there were 60,393 blind children. Of those students, only 8.5 percent (5,147 students) were Braille readers. The majority of those students were actually categorized as non-readers at 34.8 percent.

Many factors have contributed to the declining Braille literacy rate. The first was the passing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Thousands of children became enrolled in public schools rather than specialized school for the blind. The problem; however, is the fact that many of those schools cannot afford to hire or train Braille teachers. The second factor is the misconception that audio books and talking computers are a comparable substitute for Braille.

Success in life is dependent on literacy. Did you know that the unemployment rate is especially high for individuals who are blind at 70 percent? A point well worth mentioning; however, is the fact that 90 percent of blind people are Braille readers. Learn more about the Braille Literacy Crisis here in America and don’t be afraid to share the facts.

Thank you for reading this week’s Lions Pride Endowment Fund blog. For more information and fun, follow us on Facebook.

Help us continue to be “Today’s Help, Tomorrow’s Hope” for Wisconsin Lions Camp and all the WLF statewide projects by making a donation today.

Sources:

https://nfb.org/blindness-statistics

http://www1.lvib.org/2012/01/09/january-is-braille-literacy-month-2/

http://blog.ncpad.org/2012/01/20/15-facts-to-share-during-braille-literacy-month/

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