ORGANIZATIONS

ORGANIZATIONS

Histories and missions

Some veterans, civic and fraternal organizations and the work they do:

Loyal Order of Moose: Moose is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888 with nearly 1 million members in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose contributes nearly $90 million worth of service annually.

Fraternal Order of Eagles: The Eagles was founded in 1898 and, since then, has given more than $100 million to local and national charities, from buying school supplies for homeless children to helping St. Jude Children’s Research Center. There are more than 1,700 aeries and auxiliaries in the U.S. and Canada.

Kiwanis: A global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Founded in 1915 in Detroit, it supports children and young adults around the world with more than 600,000 members in 96 countries.

American Legion: The Legion was chartered in 1919 by Congress as a patriotic, mutual-help, wartime veterans organization. A community service organization with nearly 3 million members and nearly 15,000 posts worldwide.

Ruritan National: It has a membership of nearly 34,000 throughout this country and works to improve more than 1,200 communities. Its purpose is to create better understanding among people through volunteer community service.

Knights of Columbus: It is a Catholic men’s fraternal benefit society that was formed to render financial aid to members and their families. It has grown to 1.7 million members and helps the sick, disabled and needy members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works.

Lions Club International: Lions Club is an international network of 1.3 million men and women in 200 countries that works to answer the needs that challenge communities. Founded in 1917, it’s known for working to end preventable blindness, cleaning up parks and providing supplies to victims of natural disasters.

Veterans of Foreign Wars: There are 1.8 million members in 50 states, the District of Columbia and 19 foreign countries. Currently the organization’s priorities are to ensure funding of the Veterans Health Administration, to secure the GI Bill, to increase active-duty pay for members of the armed forces, to support strong and decisive action against countries that sponsor and protect terrorist groups.

Optimist International: Optimist clubs have been working to bring out the best in children since 1919. There are 105,000 members and 3,200 autonomous clubs. They conduct 65,000 service projects annually, serving 6 million young people, and spend $78 million on their communities annually.

Source: Group Web sites