100th Anniversary Lions International

EVENT:           Lions Club 100^th Anniversary       2017

                        Edmond Evening Lions Club charter member 100 years old

                             L. Gifford Parkhurst

CONTACT:      Rodney Phillips, Club President,   (580) 340-0253

WEBSITE:       www.luminarocommunication.com

Submitted by:  Mary Hamilton Collins,   (405) 633-6422    maryhufs@yahoo.com

For 100 years Lions Club International has been serving communities and those in need. Edmond Evening Lions Club charter member L. Gifford Parkhurst is 100 years old and still an active member.  As a past-president of the club, Gifford has served the Edmond community, club projects in Oklahoma and internationally for 54 years.  Mr. Parkhurst, owner of the former Western Auto store in downtown Edmond and active in the First Christian Church, has been dedicated to the service and philosophy of Lions Clubs International throughout his professional career and retirement life. Gifford and the Edmond Evening Lions club are still actively serving others as they begin their second century.

Lions Clubs was founded in Chicago by businessman Melvin Jones as a service club of businessmen.  Lions have served those who were blind and sight challenged since 1925.  That is when Hellen Keller addressed the Lions International Convention asking Lions to be the “Knights of the Blind”.  Since then Lions have impacted hundreds of millions of lives through vision-related work like providing medicines, surgeries, eyeglasses, and outfitting hospitals and eye banks.

Edmond Lions support the Oklahoma Eye Bank, conduct eye screenings for children and collect eye glasses to be distributed locally and internationally. 

Lions in Edmond perform vision screenings to check children for amblyopia. In Edmond Lions have done several hundred vision screenings.  Each month Lions collect gently used eye glasses to be refurbished and given to those in need. Members work with the Hope Center and other agencies to provide new glasses for adults and children. Recycle for Sight collects about 30 million pairs of glasses each year as part of the Lions international program.

To serve youth Edmond Lions Club supports Meadows of Hope. Formerly the Lions Boys Ranch, Meadows of Hope is now a licensed foster care community providing family homes for sibling groups and boys and girls of all ages at its campus in Perkins, OK.  Edmond club members support Meadows by participating in their golf tournament, visiting, doing work projects at the facility and by fund raising. Internationally Lions have helped millions of children around the world suffering from poverty, homelessness, hunger, abuse, neglect, disease and disabilities.

The Lions Mobile Health Screening Unit is staffed by members of the Edmond club.  Free health screenings include visual acuity, hearing, glaucoma, blood pressure, blood sugar (diabetes) and bone density.

A scholarship to UCO is given each year by the Edmond Lions Club.  Recipients are chosen according to academics and recommendations.

Edmond Lions have provided disaster response following tornados and severe weather in Oklahoma.  Members also strive to end hunger by volunteering at local food pantries and relief centers.

The Annual Chili Supper, Holiday Nut Sale and the Cowboy Cadillac fund raiser provide financial support for local and international projects.

L. Gifford Parkhurst with other members of the Edmond Evening Lions Club look forward to supporting others well into the future as they launch their second 100 years of service.