Month: October 2024

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Lions Club of Sudbury Celebrates 100 Years as First Club in Northern Ontario

Many of our clubs are having Charter Anniversaries of 20, 50 and even 75 years.  But not many of them are making it to 100 years of service in Lionism.  Lions started in Canada in 1920, but came to Northern Ontario on September 24, 1924 with the formation of the Lions Club of Sudbury.  This year, they joined the 8 other clubs in MDA that are 100 years or older in 2024.

This Lions club has had many great effects on the Sudbury community including in the early years distributing 489,294 bottles of milk to needy and school children in 1928-1943.  In 1956-57, they provided money, materials and manual labour to restore Memorial Park in the downtown area.  They were also involved in helping to build the Lions Resource Centre for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a disc golf course, and many other projects too numerous to mention.

They also provided many pieces of equipment for the local hospital including a RET Cam for the Neo Natal Centre at the HSN Sudbury to test premature babies’ eyes.  This was a project near and dear to PCC Lion Gerry Albert’s heart as he suffered from sight loss and didn’t want parents to have to travel to southern Ontario for diagnosis.

Another Sudbury Lions’ member, PDG Arne Ritari, started Lions in Finland in 1954.  To this day, he is known as “The Godfather of Finnish Lionism” and is honoured with the “Arne Ritari Foundation” which helps to raise money and help those all over Finland and other countries.

Two Lions from Finland, PCC Heikki Hemmila and PDG Lion Reino Laine from the Arne Ritari Foundation attended the 100th here in Sudbury.

This was a wonderful event and attended by many Lions from both Northern and Southern Ontario.  Here’s to another 100 years.

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Schumacher Summer Concert Series

 

The Schumacher Lions Club hosted a 12-week Summer Concert Series in the summer of 2024. The event featured a two-hour concert every Tuesday night (Wednesday night for rain days) from June 11 to Aug. 20 in the Schumacher Lions Park.

It is free admission to the weekly concerts, although donations for the park upkeep are collected.

The concerts are presented in conjunction with the Schumacher Arts Culture Heritage Association (SACHA), DJ Taz, and PJ Production.

The bands featured are all local and are paid for the participation. It serves as a great showcase for local talent and provides free entertainment for residents and visitors. It is estimated that a minimum of 300 enjoyed the free concerts every week in the summer.

Volunteers with the Lions Club help set up for the concerts, sell food, barbecue and refreshments, and help tear down afterwards every week.

Chair Lion Mark West reported the totals for this year’s concert series at the Oct. 9 meeting of the club. After expenses, with donations from local businesses about $7,200 was collected. The funds will be set aside to help fund next year’s summer concert series.

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A5 Global Membership Chair Hard at Work

In A5 we have a wonderful Global Membership Chair for our district.  PDG Lion Gerry Bertrand has been working hard to help bring in new members and to help the clubs for membership retention.  In our large and vastly spread out district, it is hard to start new clubs and we have only had 2 in the past decade or more.  We have lost a lot of our older members and getting new members has been a challenge.  But Lion Gerry has worked on trying to increase our numbers.  If you need someone to set up a membership drive, Lion Gerry is there no matter how far away in the North.  If you need someone to talk to the clubs about membership, Lion Gerry is there.  A few short years ago, our District had the most membership growth.  The last couple of years, we have broken about even.  If you think this was easy, it wasn’t.  We had a large number of members who passed away and just retaining our numbers was a huge challenge.  He has been a support to all members and an inspiration to all.  Thank you Lion Gerry for all of your hard work and continued support.

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A5 Hearing Chair Makes a Difference

Great news from MDA in regards to hearing and the Helen Keller Award.  For the past 2 years, Lion Margo Oleskiw has been requesting that the clubs be able to contribute to a Helen Keller Award over a few years, rather than a one time donation.  After all this time, the Board of Directors of the Lions Home for Deaf People has passed that clubs will be able to donate $200.00 per year for 3 years to put towards a Helen Keller Fellowship.  It must be clearly indicated with the donation that they want to have an award after the 3 years.  It is thanks to our Lion Margo that this is finally a reality.  This will be a big help for smaller clubs in our district that do not have much in the way of administrative funds but still want to honour a club member.  Way to go Lion Margo.  We are so proud to have you as a member of District A5.

Pictured is Lion Margo Oleskiw taking the collection of hearing aids to the Canadian Hard of Hearing Office for recycling.

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Mattawa Lions and Fireman Car Wash

On a nice warm Saturday in September, the Mattawa Lions with help of the Mattawa Fire Department put on a “funraising” car wash and BBQ.  Lion Josee O’Hare with the assistance of Lion Monique O’Hare manned the  BBQ with lots of yummy treats.  Lions Connie Howitt, Jennifer Dool, Pauline Thibert, Zoë Forest-Cooter, and Shannon McNamara were on car war duty with the fire fighters.  Did you notice it was all lady Lions helping the fire fighters?  With lots of food, fun and water, the Lions raised $530 for the Club.

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Schumacher Lions Support Youth Centre

The Schumacher Lions Club continues to reach out to youth in the community.

President Jim Nault and Zone Chairman Danny Ansara presented a cheque for $5,000 to The Spot Youth Centre in South Porcupine (the east end of Timmins).

Representatives of The Spot had previously made a presentation to the club membership. The Spot is a registered charity and has been operating for about 20 years. As a non-profit, it receives no funding from the provincial government. All funding comes from local donors and fundraising activities.

There is one part-time employee, the program co-ordinator. The rest of the manpower to run the centre comes from 22 volunteers, who go through a police clearance to make sure youth are being led by trustworthy people.

The Spot currently has two programs, a Junior High program on Tuesdays from 7-8:30 p.m. and a High School program Fridays from 7-10 pm The Spot hopes to expand its programing and become a full-time youth centre, build on its infrastructure and maintain the building.

After the cheque presentation, Lion Secretary Wayne Snider was able to address the youth in attendance about volunteer opportunities with the new Leo Club, which the Schumacher Lions Club is looking to create.

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Schumacher Lions Get a Defibrillator for Lions Den

The Schumacher Lions Club has made their meeting hall a safer place for everyone, with a little help from their friends.

The club recently purchased a defibrillator for the hall at the cost of $4,000.

While the hall is part of the McIntyre Arena Complex, owned by the City of Timmins, there were defibrillators in other parts of the facility but far from the hall.

The Lions Den hall is leased and operated by the club. In turn, the Lions Club rents out the hall to other organizations, families and individuals. The club felt it was important to have a defibrillator in the hall so anyone suffering from a heart attack could be assisted immediately while first responders are on the way.

The hall is rented monthly by the Timmins-Porcupine Rotary Club, The Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association, and a dart league. All were approached and supported the project.

Everyone, including the Lions, contributed $1,000 to the cause.

On Oct 1, Schumacher Lions Club President Jim Nault and Zone Chairman accepted $1,000 from the Rotary Club.

All clubs involved will receive a demonstration on how to use the lifesaving device and gain the knowledge that their members are a little bit safer.