Club News - January 2022

In New York, the Ballston Spa Lions Club delivered 60 hams to three churches in the village that have food banks. This followed their November delivery of 20 turkeys and nine other items for needy families in their community.

The Sargent Area Lions Club in Texas has become a staple organization in the small coastal town. Despite damage caused by Hurricane Nicholas in September, the Lions held their third annual Christmas in the Park event in the decorated Mike Leebron Memorial Park, a Lions Club park. Volunteers at 38 booths from 38 different organizations gave out ornaments, books, candy, cookies, reindeer food, glow sticks, cards, and more as Santa Claus arrived on the fire truck. Hundreds of people showed up for food and musical performances by local groups.

The Three Sisters Lions Club in Oregon hosted their 10th year of showcasing art from around the Central Oregon community at the Three Sisters Lions Club Holiday Faire. Customers found a variety of jellies, hand-crafted kitchen decor, hand-blown glass, woodworking, metal craft, quilting, and more.

In Oregon, the Portland Legacy Lions Club held its annual Christmas Tree Recycling Fundraiser, collecting discarded trees, wreaths and tree stands to benefit neighbors who need access to sight and hearing assistance. All donations (US$7 to drop off a tree and US$22 to have them pick it up) support sight and hearing care for people in need in the NW neighborhood, in partnership with the Oregon Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation.

In Wisconsin, the Waunakee Lions carried out their annual vision screening of about 1,000 children.

The Dalles Lions in Oregon manned the kettles for the Salvation Army. Each year there is a competition between service clubs, and for many years the Dalles Lions won and had their name on the trophy, but last year the Kiwanis won. Lions were happy and determined to get the trophy back this year, and they did.

The Easton Lions in Massachusetts mourn the loss of longtime member and “Chief Recruiter,” Avery Lee Williams, a member for 42 years who died in September. In 1991, Williams was honored with the Melvin Jones Fellowship by club members. In 2019, he was awarded the Membership Global Key & Medallion by Lions Clubs International in recognition of recruiting and sponsoring 250 members. Including those individuals who stayed in the club for less than a year, he introduced more than 500 members to the organization. One of his more successful creations, the Easton Lions Club’s Thrift store, has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been redirected back into the community through charitable donations to local groups, and the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Foundation.

In South Carolina, the 38th Annual Florence Lions Club Toy Run motorcycle ride led by Santa and the Grinch included about 300 riders winding their way through Florence for a good cause. Each rider paid an entry fee or donated a new toy, or both. The toy run is the club’s largest fundraiser of the year with proceeds destined for Lions programs. Toys are distributed to area fire departments as well as Lighthouse Ministries, and the club will make a cash donation to the Salvation Army for their Christmas program. Money will also be used for the club’s Good Fellas program at Christmas, Camp Leo for blind children, and seeing-eye dogs.

The Chambersburg Evening Lions Club in Pennsylvania recently celebrated its accomplishment of collecting 100,000 pairs of used eyeglasses to support the Lions Recycle for Sight Program. The club has 13 drop-off locations for used eyeglasses which are sorted and delivered to the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center in New Jersey.

In Pennsylvania, the Mountville Lions Club members and Scout Troop 349 boys and girls delivered a gift of 5,600 pounds of much-needed food supplies to the Columbia Food Bank. Through the combined effort of the Mountville Lions, Dayspring Christian Academy, the Mountville VFW Reese Hall Post 8757, and the community at large, the food was donated, collected and delivered by Scouts and Lions right to the door.