WHEREAS, Lions Clubs International, the world's largest service organization, with headquarters in Oak Brook, II., honoring the 100th anniversary of the day it was founded; and
WHEREAS, The City Council has been informed of this special occasion by the Honorable Margaret Laurino, Alderman of the 39th Ward; and
WHEREAS Lions Clubs International was founded in Chicago, Illinois on June 7, 1917 by Chicago business leader Melvin Jones, who asked his colleagues, "What if these men who are successful because of their drive, intelligence and ambition, were to put their talents to work improving their communities?"; and
WHEREAS, The founding of Lions Clubs International was based on the principles of Melvin Jones' personal code, "You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else"; and
WHEREAS, The Lions motto of "We Serve" applies to charitable and humanitarian priorities, including sight preservation and blindness prevention, disabilities, hearing and speech conservation, diabetes awareness, youth outreach, the elderly, international goodwill, disaster relief, environmental issues, and many other programs; and
WHEREAS, Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service organization with 46,000 clubs and 1.4 million members in over 200 countries and regions around the world with approximately 14,754 Lions members serving in 509 Lions clubs throughout the State of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, The City Council recognize that both past and current City officials were or are currently members of local community Lions Clubs helping to bring service to their community; and
WHEREAS, The Global Service Framework focuses the efforts of Lions and Leos on five service areas with the goal of tripling its humanitarian impact by serving 200 million people per year by 2021. The Global Service Framework complements all of the great ways clubs serve locally, over a million Illinoisans have benefited from Lions' service in the past 100 years; and
WHEREAS The 100th Annual Lions International Convention will be held in Chicago from June 29 -July 4, 2017; and
WHEREAS, We applaud Lions Clubs International for instilling the values of service to young people and encourage Lions Clubs International to continue to emphasize the values of service and improving the community for all people; now, therefore
Be it resolved, That we, the Mayor and the members of the City Council of the City of Chicago gathered here this twenty fourth day of May, 2017, do hereby declare June 7, 2017 as "Lions Clubs International Day" in Chicago, honoring 100 years of promoting community service and humanitarian assistance.