Melvin and the Measles

What is the Melvin Jones Fellowship?

My small College Place Lions Club has a penchant for supporting the Lions Club International Measles Initiative which vaccinates children in the world’s poorest countries. Matching funds from, first, The Gates Foundation and now the Gavi Foundation and others turn the $1,000 we donate into $2,000 and that money means 2,000 children need not suffer the blindness or death that frequently goes with the measles in impoverished countries. “Over 1 billion children have been vaccinated. Children in more than 80 countries have received vaccinations, reducing measles deaths by 90 percent in nearly all countries.”

Vice District Governor Crystal Walk tears up every time she talks about it. She is a mother and a grandmother and stopping children from suffering really motivates her. As treasurer of our College Place Lions Club she sees that donating to LCIF is a line item in our annual budget. Tears will follow.

Donations to LCIF have over nine years allowed our club to honor four of our members with Melvin Jones Fellowships. As I travel across the District, I see  the tiny little understated Melvin Jones pins on the vests, jackets and shirts of some of the Lions I meet  It warms my heart to think about their selfless service in the cause of Lionism.

A UK Lions report explains that “the Fellowship, which was created in 1973, takes its name from the founder of Lions Clubs International (LCI), Melvin Jones. It is an honor--not an award. The fellowship was established as LCIF’s highest form of recognition to acknowledge an individual’s dedication to humanitarian service.

• Fellowship donations are largely responsible for successfully launching the Lions’ aggressive global attack on preventable and curable blindness--the LCIF SightFirst program.

• Fellowship donations, combined with other unrestricted gifts, provide funding for constructing and equipping medical facilities.

• Fellowship donations support vocational assistance programs that teach skills to disabled persons, giving them an opportunity to live productively and independently.

• Fellowship donations help fund reconstruction projects following major disasters.

• Fellowship donations have been used to provide homes for children with special needs and homes for the elderly.

...and the list of humanitarian projects goes on.

Thousands of lives have been dramatically touched by the good works that are funded with fellowship donations.

■ When any individual, Lions club, or district donates US$1,000 to LCIF for a Melvin Jones Fellowship, an inscribed plaque and a lapel pin are presented to the specified individual. It is not a requirement that the humanitarian so honored be a Lion. Any individual, Lions club, or district may choose to donate unrestricted funds in increments of at least US$100, over a five-year period. When contributions total US$1,000, an individual named by the donor(s) becomes a Melvin Jones Fellow.”

19F Clubs and individual Lions have many different ways that they raise money to donate to LCIF and the Melvin Jones Fellowships. Whatever the way, whomever they honor, and however the plaque and pin are presented is second in importance to the absolute charitable good that our 19F Lions are doing for people around the world. 

You Guys Are Great!