Category: Sudbury Lions

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 100^th 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.

The Lions Club of Sudbury recognized the Estaire Wanup Volunteer Fire Department for their bravery and dedication to assisting and serving your community and the people who live there.

President Lion Gerry Corby and member Lion Sandra Del-Pivo Sauve attended the fire department to present them with a $1,000 cheque from the club.

One of the members of the Lions Club of Sudbury has a cottage off one of the roads covered by the Estaire Wanup Volunteer Fire Department. They were able to see first hand, the efforts of the small fire department, to save the homes in that area as well as assisting the MNR battle hundreds of acres of bush fires that flared up a couple of weeks prior. While the MNR fought from the air, the fire department had their pumps at the ready for use at ground level.

When the topic of new business came up, another member brought forward that a donation should be made to the Estaire Wanup volunteer fire service. This is a volunteer service. As part of our community service, it was imperative to ensure those who stand for us are able to going forward.

What the service has done in the past, is currently doing and will do in the future deserves to be recognized. We commend you for your bravery and dedication to assisting and serving your community and the people who live there.