Are international aid and relief charities making a positive difference in the world?

Ralph: Are international aid and relief charities making a positive difference in the world?
I want to donate money to an international aid and relief charity. Are international aid and relief charities making a positive difference in the world?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Lionmary
This question is right up my alley because I know for certain that the charity I am about to recommend has achieved measurable results. If you want to donate money to an international relief charity, give it to Lions Clubs International (The International Association of Lions Clubs, 300 22nd St, Oak Brook, IL 06523-8890).
From the moment Helen Keller appealed to the Lions to become “Knights of the Blind in this crusade against blindness” in 1925, Lions in America have dedicated themselves to serving the blind and the deaf in their communities and abroad. Now there are Lions Clubs in 190 countries.
Through their fund-raising efforts, Lions Clubs International works to eradicate preventable blindness in America and throughout the world. Cataract, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, trachoma, and river blindness — all of these cause preventable blindness.
Since 1990 the Lions’ blindness-prevention and eye-health programs have improved, saved, or protected the vision of more than 100 million people around the world in both industrial and developing nations. River blindness, for example, is almost totally eradicated in the Western hemisphere.
Now in a massive fundraising project (“Project SightFirst II”), Lions have targeted Africa, working hand-in-hand with the Carter Foundation to save the vision of an estimated 37 million people. President Jimmy Carter, a Lion for 53 years, says, “The world is full of difficult problems. Preventable blindness should not be one of them.”
You can go to their website at to check them out.

Lion Mary