Providing Vision Services for the Underprivileged

Brad Baker is being honored as a Champion of Change as the CEO of Mid-South Lions Sight and Hearing Service, Inc., an organization that provides comprehensive sight and hearing care to individuals in need.

I’ve always felt an obligation to serve the community. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of two of my heroes: my dad and mom who were both Lions. Since I became a Lion in 1990, I have worked at Mid-South Lions Sight and Hearing Service. The organization provides me with a unique opportunity to work with Lions from all over the world, and gives me the privilege of seeing how Lions are making a positive difference in the lives of people every day. By providing comprehensive medical care to the unemployed, uninsured and underinsured in our region, the positive impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of lives cannot be measured in dollars. The rewards of watching a grandmother see her grandchild for the first time; hearing stories of people who thought the world had gone gray, but can see colors again; people who forgot there were actually leaves on the trees instead of big blobs of gray-now speak of how the Lions came to their rescue. The most poignant story is of a nurse who had lost her sight and “prayed that God would send an angel to restore me to my family and to my life…but He did not. Instead, He sent the Lions.”

Brad Baker of Jonesboro, Ark., is a member of the Jonesboro University Heights Lions Club and has been a Lion for 22 years.