POULSBO — It’s the one weekend a year when Lions roam the streets of Little Norway asking for help for a good cause: the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight and Hearing.

Members of the Poulsbo Noon Lions Club will be spread throughout the North End Friday and Saturday from Kingston to Winslow and even down on Front Street, said member Elda Armstrong, who is heading up this year’s event.

“We raised right around $5,000 last year, so we would like to come up a little, maybe to $5,500 if we could,” Armstrong said.

Funds raised during the 2005 event helped the foundation perform 2,500 cornea transplants, she added.

White Cane Days has been a staple of the Lions club since the early 1970s and is the group’s largest single fund-raiser, she said.

“We’ll be up at Wal-Mart, at the Kingston Albertsons and at the Winslow ferry,” Armstrong said. “It’s hard to be everywhere, but we try.”

With so many good causes needing help in North Nitsap, Armstrong said any donation, no matter how large or small, is appreciated.

“Every penny counts and if you can spare a dollar we sure would appreciate it,” she said.

In 2003, the club purchased a cornea transplant vehicle for the eye bank and has consistently raised between $4,000 and $5,000 yearly to support the foundation.

Regionally, 95 percent of the Lions clubs in the state of Washington and northern Idaho will be out in force this weekend, said Jordan Gevers, a development associate with the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight and Hearing.

“Our goal is to raise around $250,000 and White Cane Days funds go exclusively to our sight program,” Gevers said, adding that the event helps low-income families pay for sight-related surgeries and equipment.

The funds are distributed through the foundation’s visual programs including the eye bank, Gevers said.

For those wanting to assist the program throughout the year, donations can be made to the Poulsbo Noon Lions Club or sent to the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight and Hearing, 901 Boren Ave. Ste. 810, Seattle, WA 98104.