Annandale Lions Club Prepares for 2010 Fundraising Season

The Annandale Lions Club fundraising season is heating up–just as the temperatures are cooling down.

The 30-member club, organized in 1948, has kicked off the sale of its 2010 White House Christmas Ornaments–one of the club's major fundraising drives each year.  The club's biggest fundraiser, the annual citrus fruit sale, starts next month.

Club leaders said they are hopeful this year will yield greater proceeds than the last few when profits were down 25 percent.

"One hundred percent of the funds raised goes to the community," said Club President Jim Hopson.

Last year, the citrus fruit arrived just as the big blizzard did and the fruit sale had to be cancelled. The fruit was donated to local charities.

The club's total annual budget is about $20,000. A majority of the money raised goes to supplying those in need with glasses and hearing aids. The cause has been the focus of the Lions Club International since 1925, when Helen Keller gave a rousing speech and challenged the club to become the "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness."

Last year alone, the Annandale Lions Club recycled 615 pairs of eyeglasses for people in need. The club also conducts regular vision and hearing screenings at community health fairs and schools. The club contributed to Haiti relief, the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society and donated money for the eye surgery of a 9-year-old Iraqi boy whose cornea was injured in a bomb blast.

They also work for the "pleasure of seeing and working with our friends," said Leon Conover, the club's vice president.

Anyone interested in volunteering with the Lions Club to clean up Backlick Road on Oct. 9 can join the Lions and meet at the Giant store located at Backlick and Braddock Road at 10 a.m.

For information on fundraising efforts or volunteer opportunities, visit annandalelions.org.