Lions Clubs International began as a dream of a Chicago insurance man, Melvin Jones. He believed that local business clubs should expand their horizons from purely professional concerns to the betterment of their communities and the world at large. A meeting was held on 7th June 1917 in Chicago, USA and the group took the name of "Association of Lions Clubs".

Our mission is "to create and foster a spirit of understanding among all people for humanitarian needs by providing voluntary service through community involvement and international co-operation".

In October 1957, Cape Town was the first club chartered in South Africa.

Since 1917, Lions Clubs have offered people the opportunity to give something back to their communities.  Lions tackle tough problems like blindness, drug abuse prevention and diabetes awareness, collect & recycle eyeglasses, cleaning up a park area or bringing sight to the world’s blind.  Today, approximately 1,35 million men and women in 45,000 clubs in 200 countries are expanding their focus to help meet the ever-increasing needs of the global communities.