Reston Lions Club

The Reston Lions Club is a group of men and women, varying in age from the mid-twenties to the late seventies, who volunteer their time to humanitarian causes in Reston, Virginia and the world community.  We also conduct service projects to raise funds to help those in need.  In keeping with the traditions of Lions Clubs International, all funds raised from the public go into community support.  The Lions motto is "We Serve".

The Reston Lions Club was chartered on May 23, 1967, making it a Golden Anniversary Club, founded fifty years after Melvin Jones organized the first Lions Clubs in Chicago. This was also shortly after the planned community of Reston was organized in the Northwest corner of Fairfax County, Virginia, in late 1964.  Though a relatively young club in history, we are dynamic in membership turnover due to the transient nature of Reston.  The club currently includes members who joined the Lions in California, Idaho, Maine, and New Jersey and we have former members in Utah, North Carolina, Blacksburg VA, and Florida.

Though the youngest of the service clubs, Lions Clubs International has grown to be the world’s largest service organization with more than 1.4 million members belonging to over 45,000 local clubs in over 200 countries and geographic geographical areas of the world. The headquarters of Lions Clubs International is in Oak Brook, Illinois. The international association is governed by a board of directors, which is elected annually at the International Convention.

In 1925, Helen Keller addressed the Lions at their International Convention and challenged them to become "Knights of the Blind in the crusade against darkness." Since that time, service to the blind and visually impaired has become one of the association's most significant activities.