Lion Wayne Houser, 1st Vice District Governor

 

Lion Wayne joined the Long View Lions Club in 2015 and has served as vice president, president, marketing chair and fundraising chair. In 2019 while working with the local elementary school he recognized a need for vision screening in the community that led to an effort to develop a program. The following year Covid stopped the original program which then led to the development of a new program under the Lions Kidsight Program. In serving as the District Zone Chair he was instrumental in forming the Unifour Childrens Sight program which along with nine other Lions clubs offers free vision screening and financial assistance to the surrounding community. Its service to the community has allowed the program to develop several partnerships expanding its scope of service of Western North Carolina with assisting in the opening of a free vision examination office at the Good Samaritan Clinic. The Unifour program also spearheaded the "Vision after Helene" disaster event to address the vision needs of victims of Helene with vision examinations and free glasses.

Lion Wayne has been fortunate to receive recognition for his service with the Lions by receiving the Melvin Jones, Bill Osborne and International President's awards. Wayne also serves on the McCune board and currently leads the Unifour Childrens Sight program with its new vision service project "Horizon".

Lion Wayne was born in the Hickory area, remained in the area and was blessed to marry Jackie, his wife of 53 years. They raised two children Coley and Lindsay along with having two beautiful granddaughters Avery and Reagan, both exceptional scholastic and sports standouts. Wayne's business career spanned over 53 years in all aspects of the trucking industry with the relationships developed in those years leading to contacts that have supported his service efforts in the Lions today.

Lions Wayne's goal for his upcoming Governorship is to advance vision service of the Lions in Western North Carolina and bring recognition of that service to light with the public ensuring Lions remain a viable resource for community service into the future.