Coronavirus risks have prevented Lions Clubs from conducting their usual in-person fundraising drives for White Cane Days – so they’re doing it online.
During White Cane Days, Lions Clubs worldwide raise funds to conduct their vision, hearing and health screening services.
As with many things, the COVID-19 shutdowns have put vital health services on hold, creating a major strain on the budgets of local organizations that work to provide health services. With the halt of corrective eye surgeries, the costs of long-term storage, operations and other institutional costs have increased: with no traditional fundraising efforts on the horizon.
To combat that, Lions Clubs are collaborating on “Give Big for Health,” benefiting Northwest Lions Foundation and SightLife as an online event during the week of Giving Tuesday, Dec. 1-4.
Northwest Lions Foundation provides:
*Patient Care Grants, which cover everything from seeing-eye dogs, cataract surgeries, braille readers, prosthetic eye, vision therapy, etc. Each of those items are sponsored at 50% matching the local Lions Club funds by 50%.
*Project Support Grants, which are used for major community projects to help the visually impaired or hard of hearing. For example, the Lions Park in Everett installed braille signs. Lynnwood Library used a grant to purchase a closed caption TV that magnifies print up to 50 times normal size.
*Hearing Program services help local Lions clubs provide state-of-the-art digital hearing aids to low-income individuals over the age of 18 — over $2.4 million has been utilized for that.
*The Lions Health Screening Unit provides vision and screening testing for over 33,000 school kids every year. It can be requested by Lions Clubs for community-based events screening for blood pressure, blood sugar, glaucoma, vision and hearing.
The Snohomish Lions Club is hosting the White Cane Days 2020 Giving Tuesday Fundraiser” with testimonials by volunteers and beneficiaries for Lions vision, hearing and health screening programs.
For more information or to donate go to: https://SnohomishLions.org/
