MLERF Introduces New Fundraising Program - Smiles For Screening
Is your Club looking for a new fundraising activity that can help bring money right back to your own community and help others in our state? If so, the Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation’s new Smiles for Screening program is your perfect solution. As a low-risk and straightforward fundraising activity with a high potential for annual income, this program simply relies upon the Lions’ own connection to their communities.
Van Gogh School Photographers, a family-owned and operated photography company that is breaking into the Missouri market, has offered to give the Foundation $2.00 for every enrolled student at Missouri elementary and middle schools where they take fall pictures. Since there are approximately 650,000 children enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade in Missouri, there is a potential for raising 1.3 million dollars annually through this new partnership!
For Lions clubs, participating in this program is as simple as using your contacts in the community to let local elementary and middle schools know about the photography company and their outstanding reputation. By personally contacting decision makers at local schools to discuss Van Gogh and encourage them to contact the company for more information, local Lions clubs can help make the initial introduction. Van Gogh’s sales team will work to further encourage the school’s administration to try their services.
The Foundation will give $1 per enrolled student in each school to the local Lions club that directly solicits the school on behalf of Van Gogh. Therefore, when Van Gogh sends the annual $2.00 commission per child to the Foundation, we will in turn send your club 50% of that profit. Your club is free to use that fundraising income as you wish.
This month, your club’s president should receive a packet of information on the Smiles for Screening program, including more detailed information. We hope you will take the time to read through this packet and discuss the opportunity as a 
club. For additional information on the program, please visit our web site, www.mlerf.org, or contact Dulsey Stewart, Development & Fundraising Coordinator, at 573-443-1471 ext. 221 or dulsey@mlerf.org
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Upcoming Events
November 10-12
National Donor Sabbath Weekend, nationwide. To find out more about this time for faith communities to discuss organ and tissue donation, please visit www.organdonor.gov.
December 3-9
Join the Heartland Lions Eye Banks and Lions Clubs International in celebrating Lions Eye Bank Week. For more information about this observation visit www.lionsclubs.org.
Board of Directors meeting at 9 a.m. at MLERF, 404 Portland St., Columbia, MO. All Lions and non-Lions are welcome to attend. For more information, please contact Annie Kuhl, 314-428-4373, ext. 107.
Looking for more detailed information on our upcoming amblyopia and glaucoma screenings? Visit our screening calendar online.