Lions of the MD5M Centennial Celebration

Lions Clubs International – the largest service organization in the world – is celebrating 100 years of humanitarian services, and the local Lions Clubs International Multiple District 5M is marking the milestone with a centennial celebration on Sunday, June 10 from 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. at the Anoka Country Fairgrounds. The event is open to the public and offers free admission. For a century, Lions Club members have worked together to strengthen their communities through five service areas: Diabetes, Environment, Hunger Relief, Youth, and Vision. The organization was founded by Chicago business leader, Melvin Jones, whose vision was to improve his community with the help of other businessmen. Since then, the organization has expanded into 200 countries, with 1.4 million members and more than 46,000 clubs. The Lions are known for many service projects, including, but not limited to, preventing blindness, restoring eyesight and improving eye health for youth; meeting environmental challenges and providing education in communities; fighting hunger; mentoring youth; and most recently, promoting diabetes awareness and education with free health screenings. In the last year, Lions Clubs around the world have impacted more than 200 million people through service. Locally, Lions Clubs have served more than 350,000 Minnesotans since July 2017. To honor the success and longevity of the organization, Minnesota’s Lions Multiple District 5M is hosting a centennial celebration at the Anoka County Fairgrounds from 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. The day-long event will include a Lions pancake breakfast, free health & wellness screenings, free KidSight vision screenings; service projects, kids’ activities, food vendors, beer trucks, live bands and an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for the largest parade of little red wagons. The event is open to the public with free admission and parking. For more information on the Lions Centennial Celebration, please visit https://www.facebook.com/MD5MCentennialCelebration/.