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VALLEY — On Saturday, the Valley Lions Club hosted its annual red, white and blue broom and mop sale. Overall, the sale was a success according to Club President Phillip Sparks.

“It’s been a real good day, better than we expected,” Sparks said. “Anyone who wants to help us in our continuing project of sight preservation can do that by buying a broom or a mop from us. They can contact me, Jerry McKay, or go by Donny Holley’s office. We are looking at having a chickencue this fall.

The four-hour sale took place at the entrance to Sylvia Word Manor, next to the Village Square Shopping Center in Valley. With each broom or mop sold, a Lions Club member gave away an American flag.

The club’s boom and mop sales benefit the club’s projects such as sight preservation and support for Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults (Camp ASCCA) near Jackson’s Gap.

Proceeds from the sale will go to Alabama Sight and the UAB Callahan Eye Hospital in Birmingham

Camp ASCCA is located in a barrier-free 230-acre wooded site on the shores of Lake Martin. Beginning in 1976, Camp ASCCA has been a nationally recognized leader in therapeutic recreation and is known throughout the world for its superior quality services. Providing camping experiences for children and adults with disabilities, Camp ASCCA is open year-round.

Since 1925, Lions Clubs have been supportive of sight preservation and helping the visually impaired. It began with a challenge made by Helen Keller at a convention of Lions Clubs International. Through her interpreter, she challenged them to be “Knights for the Blind” in a crusade against blindness.

A non-political international service organization, the Lions Club was founded by Melvin Jones in Chicago, Illinois in 1917. It has since grown to more than 46,000 clubs with an estimated 1.4 million members in 200 countries.

In addition to its long-standing campaign against blindness, Lions International has a strong commitment to hearing and cancer screening projects.