White Cane Days May 1-2

Members of the Ritzville Lions Club will be participating in the 46th annual White Cane Days May 1 and 2. Members can be found taking donations throughout the town of Ritzville including downtown, Starbucks, Chevron-Minimart, Harvest Foods, Ritzville Foods (Spikes) and Loves between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Lions Club members, in partnership with the Northwest Lions Foundation, will campaign across Washington and Northern Idaho for their annual White Cane Days fund-raising event.

Taking up Helen Keller’s challenge to become “knights of the blind,” Lions of the Pacific Northwest assist children and adults in their communities with sight restoration and preservation. All contributions to White Cane Days benefit the sight programs of Northwest Lions Foundation.

The foundation gives the gift of sight through programs such as Lions Patient Care Grants, Lions Health Screening Unit and Lions Project Support Grants.

Lions Patient Care Grant provides grants to Lions Clubs to assist people in their own communities who need treatment for sight loss but can’t afford it.

Lions Health Screening Unit provides free health screening for vision, hearing, glaucoma, diabetes and high blood pressure. About 30 percent of the people screened find they have health problems of which they were preciously unaware. Last year, the unit screened more than 29,000 children and adults.

Lions Project Support Grants provide grants made available to Lions Clubs and other community organizations to help support vision and hearing-related programs in their local areas.