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The relationship between the Lions Clubs and World Services for the Blind (WSB) began in the early years of the twentieth century, shortly after the Little Rock Lions Clubs was organized. Since then, the Lions have continued to support and grow WSB.
By: Bill Heaston
Lions Clubs International
On February 17, 1916, thirty-nine men met at the Marion Hotel in downtown Little Rock and formed the Little Rock Lions Club. Originally, the Little Rock Lions Club was one of the numerous unaffiliated clubs in the United States that focused on business concerns. The club changed its organizational structure in October 1917 when delegates from clubs across the country held a convention to form an international body. Thirty-six delegates representing twenty-two business clubs from nine states attended the convention, including Little Rock Lions Club delegate H. T. Esterle. At this convention, the delegates organized the Associations of Lions Clubs, later named Lions Clubs International. They also changed the clubs’ mission from addressing business concerns to performing community service. From 1917 to 1918, the Lions Clubs concentrated on projects to support American war efforts during World War I.
The 1920s brought rapid membership growth and a new vision for Lions Clubs International. At the Ninth Annual Convention of Lions International on June 30, 1925, Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become “Knights of the Blind” and help her “hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness; no little deaf-blind children untaught; no blind man or woman unaided.”1 The convention delegates passed a resolution declaring sight conservation and work for the blind as one of Lions International’s major activities. Today, it is estimated that over fifty percent of the Lions service projects each year are in the field of sight.
Little Rock Lions Club
The Little Rock Lions Club accepted Keller’s challenge and quickly adopted sight conservation as its major service activity. One of the sight projects it started in 1926 was paying for an annual subscription to the Braille version of Reader’s Digest for the Arkansas School for the Blind (ASB). The school sent Roy Kumpe, one of its students, to attend a Little Rock Lions meeting and formally express the gratitude of all the students. After that meeting, Kumpe left “with high hopes that someday [he] might become a part of the Lions fellowship and commitment to service.”2
Roy Kumpe’s aspiration came true fourteen years later when he was invited to become a member of the Little Rock Lions Club. Kumpe advanced within the club leadership, and the president appointed him chairman of the Sight Conservation Committee in July 1945. This committee had not been very active other than the occasional eyeglasses for local grade school students, but Kumpe had greater ambitions.
World Services for the Blind
Kumpe proposed that the Little Rock Lions Club promote a statewide Lions Clubs effort to establish a readjustment center for the adult blind. To make this vision a reality, Kumpe needed to have the proposal approved by the Little Rock Lions Club committees and its general membership before bringing it to the Arkansas State Lions. Although the idea met opposition, the Sight Conservation Committee, the Major Activities Committee, and the Board of Directors eventually agreed to Kumpe’s idea. After months of debates, the Little Rock Lions Club general membership also approved the project proposal.
A major hurdle had been overcome, but it was an even greater challenge to gain approval from the Arkansas State Lions at the convention in May 1946. After a lot of one-on-one meetings with convention attendees, all the work paid off. The delegates adopted the resolution with minimal discussion, and the Lions Clubs across Arkansas had their first Lions State Project.
Lions Clubs Continued Support
Since WSB’s founding, Lions Clubs in Little Rock, Arkansas, and other states have supported it through donations, board leadership, and program promotion. For example, three Lions from Arkansas, Edward Barry, Dr. James Fowler, and Finis Davis, helped promote WSB programs worldwide both during and after their terms as president of Lions Clubs International. From 1961 to 2011, the Lions also hosted Visiting Lions Day (VLD). VLD was initially for Lions District Governors in Arkansas, but it was eventually expanded to all Lions as well as the surrounding states of Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. During VLD, visitors listened to featured speakers, toured WSB’s facilities, learned about its programs from staff and trainees, and received promotional materials. VLD concluded with the “Parade of Checks” where each Lions Club could present a check to WSB.
From helping with its founding in 1947 to promoting its programs, Lions Clubs in Little Rock, the state of Arkansas, and across the country have made a lasting impact over WSB’s seventy-five-year history.
Sources
- Helen Keller, “Knights of the Blind,” (speech given at the Lions Clubs International Convention, Cedar Point, OH, June 30, 1925), https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-center/hellen-keller.
- Roy Kumpe and Jim Lester, The Lion’s Share: A History of Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind (Little Rock: Rose Publishing Company, 1983), 42.
“History of the Little Rock Lions Club.” Little Rock Founders Lions Club. Accessed July 14, 2022. https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/lrfounders/page-7.php.
Keller, Helen. “Knights of the Blind.” Speech given at the Lions Clubs International Convention, Cedar Point, OH, June 30, 1925. https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-center/hellen-keller.
Kumpe, Roy, and Jim Lester. The Lion’s Share: A History of Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind. Little Rock: Rose Publishing Company, 1983.
About the Author
William “Bill” Heaston graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1960. He worked at SWBT and AT&T for thirty-five years in various levels of management. During those years, he worked in three states and one foreign country. After retirement, he became a financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial for seventeen years. Heaston served in the USAF and the Arkansas National Guard as a communication officer. He joined the Lions Organization in 1962 and has been in six different clubs in two states and Great Britain. He is currently serving as President of the Little Rock Founders Lions Club. As a Lion, he has served on several boards and has received recognition and awards for his service. He is a former chairman of the Board at WSB and a past council chairman for the Lions of MD-7 Arkansas. He is currently on the Board of Arkansas Division of Services for the Blind. He is married to his wife Jane, and they have one daughter who resides in Burbank, California.