The Elmhurst Noon Lions Club has just completed their Reverse Raffle Fundraiser. The event was held on Friday September 14th at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 537 S. York, Elmhurst. The 1st raffle of its kind for the Club for held to benefit the SightFirst II – World Wide Vision Program. The raffle was a huge success with all 200 tickets sold, and a large crowd on hand to take part in the event. The Raffle was unique that a long as your number was not called you had a chance to be the big winner. 25 prizes were given out throughout the event, including one for every 10th ticket drawn, but by far the best time of the evening was when only 10 tickets remained. The final 10 have of the option of splitting the grand prize ($2000) or holding out to see if they could make it to the final ticket drawn. It was very exciting as one-by-one people were eliminated, even with some good spirited bidding to buy the remaining tickets, it came down to the final two which ended up splitting the pot, and each receiving $1,000.
All proceeds raised, over $4,200, from the raffle will be donated to the SightFirst II – World Wide Vision Program. It is a stark fact - one child goes blind every minute. More than half a million will lose their sight in a single year. This extraordinary tragedy is magnified by the fact that most blindness in children is preventable or reversible. As tragic as it is, childhood blindness makes up only a part of the worldwide vision crisis. Millions have their lives darkened by cataract, millions suffer from low-vision, millions are threatened by glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy and millions more are in danger from diseases like trachoma and river blindness. In fact, the World Health Organization warns that the world’s blind population could double from 37 million to 74 million by 2020. Lions’ response to these dire predictions is Campaign SightFirst II. By raising a minimum of US$150 million to continue and expand the SightFirst program, Lions will stem this tide of darkness. SightFirst, launched in 1990 has been one of the most effective blindness prevention and sight restoration programs the world has ever known. Through SightFirst, Lions have:
- provided more than 4.6 million low-cost cataract surgeries,
- built or expanded 258 eye hospitals and clinics,
- upgraded 300 eye centers with modern equipment, and
- provided training and education for 68,000 ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses, and other professional eye-care workers.
SightFirst is not only effective - it is amazingly efficient. On average, about every $6 (US) in donations has resulted in a person with vision restored or saved from blindness – more than 24 million since 1990.
The Elmhurst Noon Lions Club would like to thank all those people, individuals and business alike that throughout the years have supported our mission, and also made our 1st Reverse Raffle such a great success.
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