January Cabinet Meeting
MD-27 Lions Clubs lnternational Foundation Report
PID Wayne Heiman

1. A reminder that as your Dirtrict LCIF Coordinators receive them, as your Multiple District LCIF Coordinator, I receive a club listing ol Melvin Jones Fellows and Progressive Melvin lones Fellows, a status of installmentslcredits towards MJFs and a year-to-date donation list. Let me know if you need a copy. My email is heiman_wayne@live.com

2. I again have available the $20 bronze level LCIF Contributing Member pins for 2015/16 (is a tax deductible donation). I also have available some Lions Measles initiative Pins. At Cabinet meetings, I received permission to distribute them for a $10 donation, proceeds deposited into the district LCIF account.

3. By the Numbers: as of 12/10/15, MD-27 has donated $52,715 to LCIF. 18% of clubs have donated (96 of 533 clubs). ln Constitutional Area X., 19.66% of ctuhs have donated; world-wide donations at 20.36% of clubs have totaled 51.5,809,782.

4. Lions support is needed to meet and sustain LCIF grants and program expenses through 2018 and beyond. Our goal in 2014-15 was to raise $38.4 million world-wide frorn Lions. We surpassed that. Our goal in this 2015-16 year is to raise $41.3 million, our goal in 2016-17 is to raise $45.4 million. And our goal in 22017-18 is to raise $50 million in cur LCIF's 50th Anniversary year.

5. During the 2014-15 Lions'year, LCIF awarded 530 grants totaling more than $52.5 million.

6. Recently, LCIF through the SightFirst Program is working in Cuba with a partnership between the German Lions and the Churches of Cuba. LClF continues to support services for bahies born with retinopathy of prematurity {ROP). Fighting childhood blindness is a priority for SightFirst and increasing the number of eye care personnel available to screen and treat ROP is one way to do that.

Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world, aad LCIF has been fighting the disease, in partnership with The Carter Center, since 1999. Recently, the lnternational Trachoma initiative, Pfizer and other LCIF partners celebrated the donation of the 500 millionth dose of azithromycin, an antibiotic used to treat the trachoma in certain countries. The milestone marks significant achievement in global efforts to help elirninate this preventable eye disease as a public health threat by the Year 2020.

LCIF has recently awarded a 550,000 refugee assistance grant to the Lions of District 118-R in Turkey. A total of 54 Lions clubs will use the funds to purchase 2,000 backpacks and fill them with blankets, undergarments, towels, hygiene products, bottled drinking water and numerous other supplies. The Lions of Turkey will pack the backpacks and give them to the Turkish Coast Guard who will distribute them to refugees who are rescued at sea. Since the beginning of 2015, 54,500 refugees have been rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.

LCIF awarded 12 Emereencv and Disaster Relief grants in November 2015 totaling $95,000- -for flood, cyclone and fire relief efforts.

Closer to home, District 11-A2 Michigan recently received a standard grant from LCIF to help Leader Dogs improve their facilities. The $100,000 grant will support renovation and construction in the training bay area.

7. Questions? Support LCIF when you shop online at www.smile.amazon.com

Lions Clubs lnternational Foundation
OUR M1SS1ON: Supporting the compassionate service of Lions worldwide