Along with other Lions Clubs all over the world, we donate a fraction of the money we raise to Lions Projects outside our area, but benefiting special causes both national and international.

• Nationally we have helped "St Jimmy's" Children's Hospital in Leeds and the Holly Bank School near Huddersfield, which teaches severely disabled children. We also sponsor MedicAlert, a scheme where people wear an I.D. bracelet giving access to their special medical needs in emergencies - diabetic, or allergic to penicillin, for example.
• Elected Lions from around the world are trustees of a fund, Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF). Any Lions club can apply to this fund for money to help with major projects or disasters in their area. Recently, £25,000 was given to an Italian Lions Club to set up a hospital for Kosovo refugees; funds have gone to Turkish Lions to help victims of the September earthquake; a few years ago money came to Wales to help with flood relief. In all cases, the money is controlled by the Lions club "on the spot" - every penny is spent as intended.
• Mexborough Lions received a matched funding grant from LCIF in 2003 to repair fire damage at the Robert Ogden Autistic School in Goldthorpe. This doubled the £8,000 raised by local Lions Clubs (including £5,000 by Mexborough).
• A progress report we received from LCIF, shown here, shows how the Foundation and Lions around the world work together to help victims of the SE Asian tsunami disaster.
• LCIF also has an ongoing WaterWells project to provide clean drinking water supplies in Africa and other Third World countries - something we can take for granted here (except in hot Yorkshire summers!)
• We in Mexborough donate £250 each year to Lions Sight Savers. This is the cost of setting up an "Eye-Camp" in a remote village and treating any sight problems in the local people. At our last camp at Thiunelveli in southern India, 25 blind villagers had their sight restored by cataract removal. Not a bad return, at £10 each!
• Lions world-wide continue to fight blindness. In this country we are publicising the dangers of two major causes of preventable sight loss in Britain today through the Lions Eye Health Programme. This could affect YOU!