WHO WE ARE

The Lions Clubs of District 24-C located in the Commonwealth of Virginia and covers an area just south of Lexington, VA to the Cumberland Gap  and includes the counties of Botetourt, Roanoke, Bedford, Franklin, Henry, Patrick, Floyd Montgomery, Craig, Giles, Pulaski, Carroll, Grayson, Wythe, Bland, Tazewell, Smyth, Washington, Russell, Buchanan, Dickenson Wise, Scott and Lee Counties.  Also are the independent cities of Roanoke, Salem, Martinsville, Radford, Bluefield VA, Galax, Abingdon, Bristol, VA, Gate City, and Norton.  Lions Club members are ordinary men, women and youth who reside in your community and volunteer their time and effort to humanitarian causes through the district, the State of Virginia and the world.  When you are a Lion member, you are part of one of the largest service organizations in the world.  We endeavor to make our communities a better and safer place to live and work by conducting service projects and raising funds to help indigent people locally and throughout the world community.

The Lions' motto is "We Serve". Our association was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1917 by Chicago businessman Melvin Jones. Jones had a vision that businesspeople in the area should work to address needs within their communities.  Since that time Lions Club International has grown to be the world's largest service organization with more than 1.4 million members belonging to over 45,000 local clubs in 210 countries and geographical areas.  In 1925, Helen Keller addressed the Lions at their convention in Cedar Point, Ohio and challenged them to become "Knights of the Blind in the Crusade against Darkness". Since that challenge, service to the blind and visually impaired is one of the association's most significant activities. Vision is just one area in which we address needs in our communities. Lions Clubs have five areas of service focus which are:  Vision, Hunger, Diabetes Awareness, Pediatric Cancer Awareness, and the Environment.

Since we are an international association, our members come from many countries and speak different languages and profess many religions and political beliefs: however, they all subscribe to common objectives and ethical principles.