Four young men recently joined the Oakland Lions Club, according to a news release from Club President Ray Watson.
Three of the inductees, Ben Weeks, Tom Weeks-Williams and Ted Weeks are grandsons of Past District Governor Wayne Weeks. Ted and Ben also are sons of current Oakland Lions. The fourth new Lion, Richard Rimkus, is from Lithuania and immigrated to the U.S. with his mother when he was 11 years old.
Recruiting new members is a priority today for service organizations. The club is the largest service organization in the world with emphasis on sight preservation.
The club has a SPOT camera that takes a picture of the child’s eye and can help detect the possible presence of six vision problems that can be effectively treated if caught early. These eye disorders include near-sightedness, far-sightedness, astigmatism, eye misalignment, unequal refractive power, and unequal pupil size.
In the last three years, the club has averaged screening close to 200 children per year with about 15% having at least one of the six vision problems. Seventy-five percent of the children have been between 8 months and 6 years old although the club can screen children as young as 6 months. The remaining 25% have been 6 years and older. This screening is done mostly through school programs.
For more information about the sight preservation program or some of the club’s other service projects, or for more information about how to become one of the Oakland Lions Club members, email President Ray Watson at rjwatson@roadrunner.com.
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