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Statesboro Noon Lions Club to join with other clubs state wide
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The Statesboro Noon Lions Club will join 250 other Lions organizations statewide Saturday, Jan. 13 to celebrate Lions of Georgia Day. On this day, local Lions Clubs will conduct special projects all across the state from the sales of brooms and mops  to diabetes awareness and sight screenings.
    The Statesboro Noon Lions Club will be at Wal-Mart providing citizens with diabetes and vision screenings as well as seeking donations for a local project, said District Governor Joe Bill Brannon.
    The SNLC has joined efforts with the Bulloch County Board of Education to raise money to purchase devices that will help low-vision students, he said.
    Ga. Gov. Sonny Perdue is expected to sign a proclamation regarding Lions of Georgia Day on Jan. 9  at 10 a.m. in the Rotunda next to his office.
    The signing will be available to the public with all Lions, Lioness, and Leo Club members who will be wearing their club vests. Persons wishing to attend the signing are requested to arrive in the Rotunda no later than 9:30 a.m., Brannon said.
    "On this day General Assembly is expected to pass a resolution, commending the hard work and dedication to humanitarian support of  Georgia communities by the thousands of individual Lions, Lioness, and Leo Club members who make up over 300 clubs in the state," he said.
    "Lionism first began in Georgia with the formation of the Atlanta Lions Club in 1920," he said. "Now in the 86th year the Lions continue to provide sight and hearing conservation services to those in need. Also the Lions are among the first to arrive with aid for those who suffer natural disaster such as hurricanes or tornadoes."
    Individual clubs help provide the public with eye exams and glasses and "provide a ray of hope where there was not one before," Brannon said. "The Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation provides assistance for those who need major sight saving surgeries, hearing aids for those in need and direction to find those services that can and do make a difference in countless Georgia Lives. Since 1976, the Georgia Lions Camp for the Blind has brighten the lives of our visually impaired youth with the joy of freedom by experiencing camp life."
    This is the first time all Lions Clubs in the state have gathered on the same day to perform community service and raise money for charitable projects, he said.
    The vision and diabetes screenings locally that day "are not just a fund raiser but a community service project," he said. "If we can get 250 clubs doing this, you've got a lot of Lions out there doing good for the communities."
    Georgia is the first state to launch this statewide effort, he said.
    The partnership with the Bulloch county Board of Education is expected to raise $55,000 for the purchase of low-vision equipment, he said. The Statesboro Noon Lions Club has already raised $4,600 through a chicken dinner, and plans a raffle ticket sale in February around Valentine's Day as well as another chicken dinner sale in April, Brannon said.
    If the club raises $13,000, the school board will match it, and then Lions International will give a matching grant, he said.
    For more information on the Statesboro Noon Lions Club, or to donate, contact Brannon at 682-4144.
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