Lions were founded in 1917 by Mervin Jones in Chicago USA, based on the ethos that people living in a community are best able to determine who actually needs help and why. Lions became international in 1920 with the formation of a club in Canada and now has more than 1.3 million members with more than 45,000 local clubs in over 200 countries. This service organisation is the largest in the world and is both non-political and non-sectarian. Lions Clubs International is known for providing funding in the event of international disasters and its support of international charities.


Lions are ordinary people who want to help those less fortunate than themselves and give something back to the community. However when that family is more than a million strong those ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. We at Brentwood Lions do support some of these international efforts, albeit in a small way, but our contributions are magnified thousands of times by other clubs worldwide.


If you would like to know more about Lions International you can visit their website: www.lionsclubs.org

Lions can be very innovative when it comes to fund-raising. Below is a photo of the “Kook Kar” which is run by the Malahat Lions Club on Vancouver Island, Canada. They take their trailer to local Shows and Fairs throughout the summer, selling Burgers, Hot dogs, Fries and drinks. Something they do very successfully raising a lot of money. The trailer was designed by the Lions and constructed by them with help from local specialist businesses who supported the project.