Author: Rhonda McCallum

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Temagami Lions Community Partnership

The Temagami Lions have always been about helping their small northern community and when the call went out to raise funds for the badly needed “Jaws of Life” for the local fire department.  The Lions along with the Frogs Breath Foundation and the fire department worked together to successfully raise approximately $55,000.00 for the lifesaving vehicle extraction equipment.

The municipality of Temagami is a very small community between New Liskeard and North Bay that is partly known for the many hills and curves in the road.  The highway conditions, especially winter weather, increase in year-round traffic & heavy trucks make travelling the road treacherous.  This new equipment will help to save many lives that may have been lost without it.

Representatives from all of the organizations involved presented this equipment to the fire department to keep saving lives.

 

 

 

 

 

Left Side: Fire Fighter Katie Ritz and Captain Josh Campbell, Municipal Councillor Jo-Ann Platts, Fire Chief Jim Sanderson, Fire Fighter Janice Bell (kneeling).

Right Side: Frogs Breath Foundation Julie Pouliot (kneeling) and Sarah Grant, Lions Ike Laba, Rolande Boissonneault, Ken Maurice, Ron Carr & President Claude Boissonneault.

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St. Joseph Islands Lions Fun Day

The St. Joseph Island Lions Club in conjunction with the St. Joseph Island Hunters and Anglers, hosted a free Family Fun Day.  A fun filled day of Archery lessons, Family sled races, snow painting and snow shoeing.  The venue was provided by the Hunters and Anglers, as well as prizes. The Lions Club served free hotdogs, hot chocolate and coffee.

A great partnership between the Lions and the Hunters and Anglers to provide a lot of fun for the community.  The event was well attended! A great big thank you to all the volunteers from both clubs!

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St. Joseph Island Lions Members Celebrate 15 Years

St. Joseph Island member Lion Dianne Young celebrated her 15th year in Lions.  Zone Chair Lion Deborah Kidd presented her with her chevron at the meeting.  Lion John Atkins is also to receive a chevron but could not make the meeting that night.  Congratulations to both Lions and here’s to another 15 years of service.

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A5 – Here We Grow Again

In District A5, we have been working hard to keep our numbers increasing.  Many Lions have passed away or left for many different reasons and member retention is a problem worldwide.  Thanks to the efforts of our clubs, we have had several more inductions this year.

New Liskeard Lions welcomed transfer Lion Sandra Lowe to their club.  In addition, Lion Adam Brock was welcomed to the club recently with his sponsor Lion David Lowe.

Schumacher Lions welcomed new member Lion Edna Kingsbury, who was sponsored by her son and daughter-in-law Lions Guy and Rachelle Kingsbury.

St. Joseph Island Lions welcomed 4 new members this year.  Lion Lisa Day was sponsored by Lion
Sandy MacIntyre, Lion Ed Strong was sponsored by his wife Lion Rhonda Strong, Lions Dianne and Rui Daluz were sponsored by Lion Patricia Duma.

We have heard about several more inductions and hope to report on this soon

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Schumacher Lions Remember

The Schumacher Lions Club participated in Remembrance Day ceremonies at two locations in the community, the South Porcupine branch of the Royal Canadian Legion and at the Timmins Cenotaph.

The Club purchased wreaths for ceremonies conducted by both the South Porcupine and Timmins branches of the Royal Canadian Legion.

President Jim Nault attended the South Porcupine ceremony and placed a wreath on behalf of the club at the memorial. Treasurer John McCauley attended the Timmins ceremony and placed a wreath on behalf of the club at the Cenotaph.

Despite being a cold, windy day with snow flurries, good crowds attended both events.

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Schumacher Lions Induct New Member

The pride of the Schumacher Lions Club has grown again. Club members welcomed their newest member on Oct. 23. Edna Kingsbury was officially
inducted during the meeting. She was sponsored by her son, Lion Guy Kingsbury, and daughter-in-law, Lion Rachelle Kingsbury.
The ceremony included swearing in as a Lion, the presentation of a pin and vest, and the traditional candle ceremony. Candles were lit representing Lions International, District A5, Zone 1520 North, the Schumacher Lions Club, the sponsor and, of course, the new member. She was welcomed by a rousing standing ovation and many handshakes and hugs.
Welcome to the club Lion Edna!
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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.