DISTRICT 22-C PROGRAMS

Lions Camp Merrick is 320 acres of land in Charles County, Maryland and overlooking the Potomac River. The site has a rich camping history, beginning in the 1930’s when the Merrick family established a camp for boys from the greater Washington area. In the 1950’s the Merrick family bequeathed the camp to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington which turned it into a camp for deaf children. In the late 1970’s the Archdiocese approached the Lions of District 22-C and proposed an arrangement to jointly run the Camp for the Deaf which was approved at the 1979 Lions Convention. In 1988 the Lions of District 22-C officially approved making the camp a Lions district project and leased the camp from the Archdiocese. The camp was renamed “Lions Camp Merrick”. The mission of the camp was expanded to serve not only the deaf but also visually impaired children and adults. In 1997, the Waldorf Lions Foundation purchased the camp and leased it to the Lions Clubs of District 22-C. In 1998, the American Diabetes Association sold their camp in the Baltimore area, Camp Glyndon and, at their request, entered into an arrangement with Lions Camp Merrick to expand its summer camping program to include a jointly run a summer camp for children diagnosed with diabetes. Lions Camp Merrick assumed the entire responsibility for Camp Glyndon in 2005. Camp Glyndon at Lions Camp Merrick is supported by the American Diabetes Association.

More information can be found on the Lions Camp Merrick website.

The Lions Community Outreach Foundation is a community-based effort to prevent vision and hearing loss. The Foundation provide free vision, glaucoma, and hearing screenings at health fairs, area businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, senior centers, and other community gatherings. In partnership with local Lions Clubs in Multiple District 22C the Foundation collects and recycles used eyeglasses and hearing aids and provides them to people in need. The Foundation has partnered with the University of Maryland, to provide hearing aids, at little or no cost, to low income individuals with hearing loss. In corporation with local Lions Clubs, the Foundation provides free eye screenings of preschool age children for vision problems. The Foundation through the Francis Garner Memorial Endowment Fund, provides financial aid for vision or hearing related medical expenses to individuals who need financial assistance.