On September 26, 1934, the first annual meeting of the North Carolina State Association for the Blind was held at the Vance Hotel in Statesville, in conjunction with a regional Lions Club conference.
Lions Club International was already committed to civic service on behalf of the visually impaired, and the North Carolina clubs looked for opportunities to carry out the mission. By the 1930s it became clear that the work of the clubs lacked continuity, and the Charlotte Lions Club began to seek ways to improve services for the state’s entire blind population.
During the Depression, local Associations for the Blind were established in Guilford, Durham and Mecklenburg Counties. The local associations, together with the Lions Clubs, established the infrastructure for launching a statewide effort to assist the blind citizens of North Carolina.
In 1974, the group solidified their connection with the Lions Clubs by becoming the North Carolina Lions Association for the Blind, and it is now known simply as the North Carolina Lions Foundation, Inc.
The original association was successful in focusing public attention on the needs of the state’s blind and visually impaired citizens. The modern successor continues the work with projects and programs throughout North Carolina.
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