How We Got to Where We Are

The Northwest Lions Foundation partners with Lions Clubs in Washington and Northern Idaho to help them accomplish sight and hearing missions in their own communities – one neighbor at a time...

1925
 Helen Keller travels to Lions International Convention to ask Lions to serve as "Knights of the Blind." Lions say, "Yes!"
1969
 Regional Lions Clubs band together to establish the Northwest Lions Eye Bank.
1979
 Lions International President Ralph Lynam asks Lions to extend their special sight mission to also help those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Lions say, "Yes!"
1979
 At their district convention, Lions Clubs of Washington and Northern Idaho vote to found the Lions Hearing Conservation Foundation.
1998
 Northwest Lions say "Yes!" to the opportunity to achieve dual missions with greater efficiency, merging sight and hearing conservation into one organization – the Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation of Washington and Northern Idaho.
2001
 To reflect the expanding reach of our humanitarian services and a merger with the Montana Eye Bank, we change our name to Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing.
2004
 The Northwest Lions Foundation launches AUDIENT, a national nonprofit alliance bringing low-cost, high-quality hearing care to income-qualified individuals.
2006
 To better reflect its national and international role, the Board of Trustees of the Northwest Lions Foundation renames the Northwest Lions Eye Bank as SightLife.
2008
 SightLife is established as the parent organization of both the Northwest Lions Foundation and AUDIENT.