History – AUST. LIONS CORD BLOOD FOUNDATION

History

Our History

The Australian Lions Cord Blood Foundation Ltd. is associated with Lions International, with our sole member being Lions Multi District 201V5 located in Victoria, Australia. As with all voluntary organisations, the Foundation had very simple beginnings. In 1996 the Channel 9 60 Minutes TV show featured the new miracle medical treatment for treating children with leukaemia and other blood disorders. We learnt that normally a baby's umbilical cord is discarded soon after birth, but it is rich in stem cells and can be used for transplantation in children who are suffering from leukaemia and other blood disorders.

The late Laurie Denton from the Waverley Lions Club was watching the 60 Minutes TV show and realized what a fantastic Lions project it would make, especially as importing cords from the USA were very costly at $25,000 each. Following a visit to the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, with the late Geoff Morton,

he took this vision along to his Lions Club meeting, and it was adopted. Discussions with the Hospital and the Bone Marrow Donor Institute (now Fight Cancer Foundation) took place, with the Institute being set up to receive funding for the Cord Blood Bank located in the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Initially, and for the next 12 years, funding was mostly used for the purchase of cryonic tanks for storage of packets containing the cord blood at temperatures of minus 190 degrees C. The Foundation has since funded a research assistant along with her equipment to improve the quality of the process and be involved in applications into other medical procedures, such as operations involving the babies suffering from congenital heart disease and stem cell use in patients with Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease (MND) and blindness.

Since its inception, the Foundation has received great support from Lions clubs all around Australia, with $820,000 raised by June 2009 increasing to $2.9M by 2024. In the past year, the Foundation has benefited from two deceased estates to the value of over $1.1M. Apart from club donations, the Fundraising Committee of the Foundation has in the past organised projects including the sale of red roses on St Valentine's Day (2005 to 2019), the sale of pens, stickers, key rings, the sale of Dining With Lions recipe books and our Great Australian Grocery Grab raffle. In more recent times, funds have been raised from Bunning's sausage sizzles and work at Waverley Op Shop, but the Grocery Grab has been by far our most important fundraiser involving some 30 clubs around Australia.

There were many contributors to making the Foundation such a success over the years. Lion Patricia Forsyth has continued in that role as chairperson for 9 years. PDG Sue and Don Owen played a prominent part with setting up of the Great Grocery Grab.