Lions honor group from Benevolent Missions International (BMI)

Lions honor group from Benevolent Missions International (BMI)
 
The Conroe Noon Lions honored some of its members this week: Lion Dr. Downey Price and his wife, Edna Price; Lions Tim Cox, Charlie Irvine, and Karl Johnson. Our Club has partnered for years with Benevolent Missions International (BMI) and others to help children and adults in places like Belize, Fiji, Haiti and other exotic places with eye issues. 
BMI was founded by Dr. Price and his wife, Edna, around the time of their first overseas trip in 1974.
 
Over the years, he has recruited more than sixty members of the Houston Ophthalmological Association to conduct eye surgeries on these trips. He has also recruited other Ophthalmologists from around the country to travel to these outposts to perform eye exams and eye surgeries. To date, BMI has performed more than 12,000 eye exams and more than 3,000 surgeries to help people in distant places with no access to modern eye care. BMI has charged these patients ZERO dollars! Equipment for use on many trips has been provided by Alcon Corporation, and thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs have been provided by Novartis pharmaceutical company. Many Conroe churches have assisted in these charity trips over the years; along with our club’s 20+ year contributions.  

Lion Tim Cox recalled how he became involved with BMI trips back in 2009.  With the development of the Conroe Noon Lions Club Eyeglass Recycling Center, our club was able to provide the refurbished eyeglasses needed for the adults and children on these trips.  Lion Charlie talked about the longtime membership of Dr. Price with CNLC and how instrumental he was in keeping vision and sight conservation at the forefront.  The last story of the program came from Lion Karl Johnson, where on one of the trips to Fiji he was having a very difficult time locating a specific prescription for a 5-year girl.  She spotted a bright blue pair of glasses at the bottom of a pile, which were the perfect match; he turned over the bag, he saw the label from the Conroe Noon Lions Club.  

Dr. Price, who made his last trip in 2025, reminded us of the time Helen Keller challenged the Lions Clubs to become “Knights of the Blind” by taking up the cause of assisting people who have vision problems. Since her challenge, Lions around the world have provided more than $1.4 Billion worth of vision services and eyeglasses. We serve! 

And Conroe Noon will keep our sight conservation efforts going this weekend as we provide Vision Screenings for school aged children at the Health Kids Fest on Saturday, at Sam Houston Elementary School. Lion Connie Engle and her team of club volunteers will be there to screen children for early detection of sight problems.  

Conroe Noon isn’t only busy with vision we’ve got lots going on at the club.   We are preparing for the upcoming Montgomery County Fair where we will be manning the concession stand for 7days in the show barn.   Plus, we are putting together our Members Fair Buyers Group to support the 4-H and FFA exhibitors with their winning projects.  Plus – we’re on the look out for children with special medical needs to attend the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville this summer.  The camp is free to families and gives children a CAN DO attitude. Plus, we’re in the last week of our ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – Membership Drive and the teams are close, so don’t forget to turn in those new member applications by the end of the month!

Please come and join us any Wednesday at noon. The food is good, and fellowship is great! The Conroe Noon Lions Club meets on Wednesdays, at noon, at the Lone Star Convention Center. For more information about the Conroe Noon Lions Club, please visit our website, www.conroenoonlions.org, or call the club office at 936-760-1666.

Jay Wright