“I always believe that unless we do something to bring about change, there is no purpose to life and I’ve always wanted to do something bigger,” said Naresh Aggarwal, international president of the Lions Club International, when asked about how his association with the Lions Club began.
Mr. Aggarwal, who is only the third person from India to be an international president of the Lions Club International, was in the city on Saturday to preside over the installations of Lions District 324 A1, Lions District 324 A5 and Lions District 324 A6.
Born and brought up in Punjab, Mr. Aggarwal, who is an entrepreneur based in Delhi, was sworn in as the 101st president of the Lions Club International in Chicago on July 4, which is considered to be the birthplace of Lionism.
“The focus of Lions Club International lies on a service framework of four areas which are hunger, environment, vision and youth. Earlier this month, we also declared diabetes as a focus area as it is a global issue that needs attention,” he said.
Stating that the club was celebrating its centennial year and that the celebrations would culminate in July 2018, Mr. Aggarwal said that internationally they had over 47,000 clubs and 1.42 million members.
As a part of the centennial celebrations, the Lions Club International (LCI) forward initiative was announced to build our direction and strategy further. By the year 2020-21, Lions Club members from across the world should have served 200 million people,” he said.
“Lions Clubs in Tamil Nadu have been very keenly working towards local projects, which will benefit the community at large and I have observed the sustained interest to keep such projects going. From diagnostic centres, blood banks and eye hospitals, the members have been working towards enabling access to healthcare services at the community level,” Mr. Aggarwal noted, when asked about the working of the Lions Clubs in the State.
Mr. Aggarwal emphasised on the fact that with more members, they could serve more people and that they were looking forward to more people joining the clubs in the future. “The country is growing by leaps and bounds but still there is a lot to be done. Unless everyone sleeps with a full belly, all of us should ensure that we do something directly or indirectly and put our hands together to do our bit for the community,” he said.
