GM Holden Sponsorship

Pride of Lions

The community will be the winner from a new three-year sponsorship alliance between two iconic 'lions' - GM Holden and Lions Australia - as they both celebrate 60 years of service.

LIONS Clubs International has had community service at its heart since it was founded in Chicago in 1917 by a loose collective of 25 clubs that responded to an idea by a young insurance agent, Melvin Jones.

The association arrived in Australia six decades ago when its first Aussie club was established at Lismore, NSW, in 1947, just a matter of months before Holden rolled out "Australia's Own Car" in 1948.

Like Holden's car, Lions' brand of community service quickly caught on across the country, also spreading to Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Island and East Timor.

Today, Lions Australia has 30,000 members working for the community in 1400 clubs, collectively raising about $20 million a year for good causes. Some of the money is raised from the traditional Lions Christmas Cakes and Lions Mints, but much is raised by innovative - even madcap - fundraising events such as bed races.

The money is put to good use on countless levels, from supplying walking machines for handicapped children to helping to raise $150 million globally to fight avoidable blindness in the Sight First program.

Health program support is a particular forte of Lions, which is instrumental in number of national foundations in Australia, including Cord Blood Banks, the Children's Cancer Institute Australia, Australian Lions Children's Mobility Foundation, Lions Spinal Cord Fellowship and Australia Prostate Cancer Awareness.

Numerous medical research programs have benefited from Lions contributions, as had the Lions Hearing Dog Centre that trains hearing dogs for hearing-impaired people.

Lions' global humanitarian aid has also eased the suffering of the less fortunate around the world to the tune of about $600 million. Benefactors have included victims of the Asian Tsunami, for whom Australian Lions alone raised a staggering $21 million to rebuild houses. Australian and NZ Lions raised $750,000 in a matter of months to help Australian rebuild from Cyclone Larry, when disaster hit closer to home.

Now, the other great Australian "lion", GM Holden, has agreed to throw its support behind Lion Australia by sponsoring its Annual Convention and 19 District Conventions while developing a community-based partnership.

The commitment has been welcomed by Lions Australia CEO Rob Oerlemans, who says Lions was attracted to the obvious links between the two organisations that are "united behind the image of lion logos, 60 years of service to the Australian community, and striving for excellence within our fields".