After two years of growth, the Hendersonville Lions Club completed a project unlike any other in the chapter’s history. The club gave a Hendersonville citizen an extra reason to be thankful this holiday season when, in September, the young club sponsored the resident to become a cataract surgery patient.

The citizen applied for the sponsorship in March 2011. This was the first project of this type in which the city’s Lions Club had participated. 

A Lions Club member surgeon located in Murfreesboro performed the $2,000-$3,000 procedure, for which Lion clubs in Middle TN provided all of the funding. More complicated surgeries are performed at the Tennessee Lions Eye Center at Vanderbilt Eye Institute, which is funded by Lions Clubs throughout middle Tennessee and created with a $4 million dollar fundraising effort.

Funding is almost 100 percent from donations to the club. Donations are down dramatically which has forced the Lions Club to provide surgery for only one eye surgery per patient. Woodcock said this allows them to help twice the amount of people with the same budget.

Since the surgery, no others have applied. However, Darrell Woodcock, charter president of the Hendersonville Lions Club, is not opposed to sponsoring another surgery.

“Our goal is to provide as much assistance as we can with the resources we have available,” he said. The club also assists those who are in need but are unable to afford eye examinations and eyeglasses.  He said the club receives an average of three applications per month from those needing assistance with their eye care.

The Hendersonville chapter, Woodcock said, works with the Middle Tennessee Lions Sight Service to help those who cannot afford eyeglasses, eye exams or other vision treatment.

The Hendersonville Lions Club is a local chapter of Lions Club International, a service club started in 1917 for businessmen. Since its founding in Chicago, IL, the club has expanded internationally with 46,000 clubs around the globe. It is the world’s largest service club organization, according to the Lions Club International web site.

“Our members do whatever is needed to help their local communities,” the Lions Club International web site stated.

Hendersonville had a Lions Club until the 1980s when the club closed because of a decline in members. Two years ago, Woodcock was approached by a friend to get the club roaring again. He said that Hendersonville was the largest city in Tennessee not to have a Lions Club chapter.

“I’ve always been civically minded and a part of other groups,” Woodcock explained, “I thought it would be fun to be a part of the first group (of Lions Club members).”

The charter club has approximately 30 members from the Hendersonville area. Their mission is “We Serve,” and includes working on service projects to give sight back to the community. Those who need financial assistant to support their vision care can apply for help from the Lion’s Club.

Eyeglass donations and eye screening are two other projects of the chapter. Donated glasses can be taken to the Hendersonville Samaritan Center, the Visionary Eye Care Center or the Hendersonville Wal-Mart. Eye screenings for children under the age of six are held once a month in churches, daycares and schools.

“Our club goal is to screen the eyes of every child under the age of six, so that we can eliminate amblyopia (lazy eye) in Sumner County,” Woodcock said.  He encourages every parent to ask their day care provider or school if they provide this type of eye screening. 

The Hendersonville Lions Club meetings are open to the public and are held at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday every month at the Blue Grass Country Club. The membership fee is $45 every six months.

For more information about joining the Lions Club, applying for eye care financial aid or making a donation, visit www.lionsofhendersonville.org or contact Darrell Woodcock at 681-8201 or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

By Rachel Swann