Lions International was founded by Melvin Jones in 1917 and today it is the world’s largest service organization. This is due partly because in 1925 Helen Keller asked, “Gentlemen, would you be my Knights of the Blind?” She asked Lions to pick up her crusade and adopt sight conservation as a major project of Lions International. Little did she realize that in just 25 years, Lions were not only in America, but in China, Africa and all the other free countries of the world, all working for one goal - to eradicate the dreaded disease of blindness.