Melvin Jones Fellowship Award

The Wayne Lions Club is a local chapter of the Lions Clubs International, founded in 1917 by a Chicago businessman named Melvin Jones. He believed that local business clubs should expand from purely professional concerns to the betterment of their communities.

 In 1925, Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, was the guest speaker at the Lions' international convention. She challenged Lions to become, as she put it, "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness". From that time forward, Lions clubs have been primarily involved in service to the blind and visually impaired.

The Melvin Jones Fellowship was created in 1973 by Lions Clubs International as the highest form of recognition to acknowledge an individual's dedication to humanitarian service.

  In 1988 the Wayne Lions Club named its first two Melvin Jones Fellows by bestowing that honor on one of the founders of our club, Dr. Irv Feit, and Bob Wright, both dedicated Lions.

Whether a Lion should be selected to receive a Melvin Jones Fellowship award is decided only by the Club's Melvin Jones Fellows, and then the identity of the recipient is only disclosed at an installation dinner.

Wayne Lions Club . 600 Valley Road, Suite 101 . Wayne, New Jersey 07470
P. 973.692.0001  E. office@waynelions.org