Club News - March 2023

The Niagara Cyber Lions Charter Afternoon Club in Ontario, Canada, featured singers aged 8 to 17 from the Rising Stars youth group who entertained at the club’s charter celebration.  The arts supporting club is gathering used instruments that are retrofitted and given to youth who can’t afford them.

Lemon Grove Lions Club in California had its first Chili Cook-Off fundraiser to help support their graffiti removal project and to provide Lemon Grove youth support.

The Simcoe Lions in Ontario, Canada, welcomed 10 new members, including Lion Jamie Adams who joins his dad, Jim Adams Jr., and grandpa Jim Adams Sr., making The Simcoe Lions a three generation club.

The Larsen/Winchester Lions Club in Wisconsin loaned out more than US$900,000 worth of medical equipment in 2022 including 11 16-ft enclosed trailers loads going to the Ukraine through their partner, Orphan Grain Train. Lions are also supporting a group of neighboring Lions Clubs starting their own distribution of medical equipment and completed their 1,300th handicap ramp.

In Missouri, the East Side, South Side, and Host Lions Clubs came together for the 70^th Annual Pancake Days at the Army National Guard Armory.

The Louisville Highlands Lions in Kentucky are proud of their longtime member Kitty Petit who after years of making blankets for her own family began making blankets for Project Linus, a nonprofit organization that strives to provide love, security, warmth, and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need through gifts of new, handmade quilts, blankets and afghans created by volunteer “blanketeers.” Petit has made and donated more than 100 blankets to the organization.

In Pennsylvania, rehearsals began for the 2023 Robinson Lions Club’s melodrama in its 55th year. The play, “Mystery at Uncle Fuzzy’s or Dancing on Geezer’s Grave,” was written by members of the club. The melodrama is the Lions Club’s main fundraiser each year, and funds are used for service to the community. Funds made on the Christmas play performed by the Lions provided donations to six different Brown County schools and the Hiawatha Genealogy Club. Melodrama funds help buy fireworks for Robinson’s Fourth of July festivities.

The 39^th annual Kemmerer Lions Club Ice Fishing Derby was held over Presidents Day weekend at Lake Viva Naughton in Wyoming. Cash prizes totaling US$4,888 went to the winners of Male Overall Big Fish, Female Overall Big Fish, and Youth Overall Big Fish, and the hourly big fish winners. There were 270 participants. The fishing derby is the club’s biggest fundraiser, and the money goes back to the community. The club has just six active members.

Over 15 years the Ashland Evening Lions Club in Ohio has recycled more than 100,000 pairs of eyeglasses, some of them passed on by Goodwill Industries. It is illegal to sell prescription eyeglasses, so Goodwill passes donated prescription glasses to the Lions to be sorted and recycled.

For more than 30 years the Portland Lions in Maine partnered with The Iris Network to raise funds by parking cars. The Iris Network provides services to the blind and visually impaired and has a large parking lot near venues for sporting and other events in the area. The Portland Lions volunteered for parking duty but could not continue in 2017, and the Falmouth Lions Club in Maine took on the work. A year of parking will yield about US$70,000 in revenue. Sight impaired members of the Maine Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind assist in making change for the customers. The Lions provide the footwork and expertise in getting the cars parked.

The Portage Lions in Michigan donated their time and purchased paint and materials to re-paint the basement recreation room at CityGate. Lions were thanking the church for allowing the club to continuously conduct its meetings at their facility.

The Lions Club of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, completed its 10,000th community vision screening at St. Joseph's School. The Lions have been providing free vision screenings to the community since 2017, providing their service at district schools as well as at community events.

The Heritage Lions in Indiana donated US$200 to Project Linus, a nonprofit organization that supplies blankets to hospitals, surgical centers, crisis centers, sleep clinics, the foster care program, and on Adoption Day at the Allen County Courthouse every November. Last year, more than 2,200 Project Linus blankets were distributed throughout the northern Indiana area. Nationwide, the 275-plus Project Linus chapters have distributed more than nine million blankets in the past 20 years.