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Local Lions entertain District Governor

For 34 consecutive years, the Lions Club of Pago Pago has been visited by the Lions regional District Governor (now District K)— which is the only Lion district in the world that includes a major city (Auckland, New Zealand) along with three countries and a territory: Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and American Samoa.

 

This year the tradition continues, where District Governor Marian Andrews came to visit this past week, along with her cabinet member, John Green, who jokingly called himself “just the porter”. Green in fact, is responsible as the Island Liaison on the Dist.Governor’s cabinet, and he also works in the media in Auckland.

 

Flying in from Apia, they were here just two days, but were able to visit the LBJ Hospital, whose Eye Clinic has been given special project attention by the Lions, as well as check out the  van which the Lions use as a mobile eye exam office for their village Eye Care outreach projects. They were also given an island tour, as this was their first-ever visit to the Territory. They pronounced it “just gorgeous, with the friendliest people anywhere.”

 

On Monday evening, the Lions hosted the pair at the Lions Den in Tafuna, where members and guests were able to visit with the Lion leaders and hear from the District Governor, along with the message from Lions International president, Joe Preston, whose theme is “Strengthen the Pride through Service.”

 

In 2017, the Lions Clubs around the world will celebrate their centennial—and with that in mind, this International president has issued a challenge moving forward. To celebrate 100 years of service, the Lions have been asked to touch the lives of 100 million people worldwide, and the service hours are to be logged in, beginning this year.

 

The Lions Club is the world’s largest volunteer community service organization, found in over 200 countries and territories, with some 1.35 million members in 46,000 clubs worldwide. In the vast majority of those clubs, there are projects related to eye health and eye care, with vision screening, eyeglass distribution and surgeries performed free of charge.

 

The guests from New Zealand are holding gifts given to them from the Lions and the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office.