A Fellow Named Melvin Jones

I’m a member of the Lions Club civic organization.  Our Lions International motto is “We Serve,”  but sometimes it seems about all our local club does is meet, eat, hear a speaker, and sell brooms.
That’s judgmental and unfair to our club and to Lions generally.  Selling brooms IS our club’s major fundraiser, and the Lions’ share (pun intended) goes to sight preservation.
A secondary money maker for our club is Candy Day.  For both these funding efforts, we get permission to stand at the exit of big-name national chains and peddle our wares.
If people know anything at all about Lions clubs, they probably know we provide eye exams, glasses, and even eye surgery.
On Candy Day, we give rolls of candy mints to people who make donations.  Time and again over the years, people refuse the candy as they drop loose change, dollar bills, or larger money into our buckets.  They tell me, “Grandma got her glasses from the Lions” or “Y’all paid for my daddy’s eye test.”
When Phil Marett, one of our club members, was elected Lions district governor, he asked me to be his chaplain for cabinet meetings. I gave prayers and brief devotional thoughts.  This, in turn, led to opportunities to bring major inspirational messages at state conventions.
These honors put me in touch with men and women across the state, and significant friendships developed which have enriched my life.  
I never aspired to larger office beyond membership in our local club, but I was approached about possibly running for district governor in my own right. I discouraged this nomination.  Turns out, I didn’t qualify anyway.  A candidate for district service must have come up through the ranks of leadership in zone and regional Lions work, which I had not done.  
Still, I was flattered to know a fellow Lion pictured me in that role.
Money pitched into our buckets from broom sales and donations for candy is mingled with funds from other clubs for major projects in our state and around the world.
South Carolina Lions have contributed millions of dollars, providing state of the art equipment for medical research at the Storm Eye Institute, part of the Medical University of South Carolina.   A huge Lions Club emblem is emblazoned on the exterior wall of Storm Eye in downtown Charleston in acknowledgment of these donations. 
Internationally, children and adults in many countries are saved from blindness through Lions projects.

Additionally, Lions provide relief in natural disasters.  One example: When Superstorm Sandy ravaged the East Coast last year, Lions Clubs International Foundation immediately provided more than two hundred thousand dollars for those whose lives were impacted.  

Many local clubs also rallied, sending money and members to assist in areas hit by the storm.  

Teenage Lions, known as Leos, got involved.  More than sixty Yorktown, New York, Leo Club members and friends traveled nearly seventy miles to Staten Island. They helped clean up an apartment complex that had been flooded by Sandy. Many residents lost everything and were left without a place to stay. The Leos helped empty out apartments and discard water-soaked household items. They also brought hot coffee, hot chocolate and hot soup for those who went for days without power in their homes after Sandy passed through.
If this reads like a lengthy promo for Lions, I guess it is.  But it’s more.  
In the pattern of all service groups, Lions International has a system for recognizing members nominated by their clubs for work they have done.
Lions have an award known as the Melvin Jones Fellowship, named for the Chicago businessman who founded the Lions organization in 1917.
In order for a Lion to be named a Melvin Jones Fellow, the club must contribute one thousand dollars to the international foundation for charitable work.  So it’s quite an honor for a Lion to realize the club has expressed its confidence in such a tangible way.
Often, Melvin Jones awards are given at state conventions.  During the years I spoke regularly at state meetings, it wasn’t unusual for my wife Pansy to go with me.  But this one year, she seemed especially interested in going.  I didn’t think a whole lot about that until my name was called on awards night.  I went forward and became a Melvin Jones Fellow, receiving my certificate from the incoming international president, Mahendra Amarasuriya of Sri Lanka, our featured speaker that year.
You can’t put a price on volunteer service, but I’m not sure my contribution to Lions work is worth a thousand dollars.  Still, I’m honored that my club made me a Melvin Jones Fellow.
A man or woman can also attain higher recognition as a Progressive Melvin Jones Fellow.  But that one comes with a bit of irony.  This usually is not further recognition by the club for distinguished service.  Instead, a Lion becomes Progressive when he or she directly contributes a thousand dollars to the international foundation.  This can be done incrementally over several years.
I make occasional direct contributions to Lions Clubs International Foundation, but I am not ambitious to attain higher recognition in this way.  I think of the admonition in the Sermon on the Mount: when you give to the needy, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

On the other hand, right or left, these financial contributions in the name of the Lions founder go toward sight saving, disaster relief, youth work, and other worldwide Lions benevolent service.  

So, with or without public recognition, Melvin Jones money from clubs and from individual Lions does what we might call “a world of good.”