Celebrating the Past, Present & Future

The Northumberland Lions Club was founded by local residence in 1953. “We Serve” is our motto, and the motto of the Lions International to which we belong. Melvin Jones in Chicago founded Lions International in 1917. In 1925 Helen Keller challenged the Lions Club to take up the cause of the visually impaired by becoming the “Knights of the Blind” in the crusade against darkness. This challenge was accepted and today in addition to the sightless, hearing impaired and diabetics is part of our crusade.

Today the Lions International boast of 1,295,583 members; in 45,105 clubs; in 200 countries in the world. Today it is one of the largest volunteer clubs servicing those in need in the world.
The Northumberland Lions Club’s primary interest is to the family next door and the children down the street. Our emphasis starts with our own neighbors and expands to the country and the world from there.

Each project is chaired by a volunteer and assisted by other members volunteering their time and effort. Some of the projects for our community in the last 12 months have been:

· Building two wheelchair ramps chaired by Bob Holley

· Two Red Cross Blood Drives making and serving food for donors, chaired by Bill Weeks

· Distributing Christmas food baskets to 19 families, wrapping and delivering clothing & presents to 44 children chaired by Ann Depaolo and assisted by Eve Jordan

· Eye and hearing exams for two days to all the Northumberland Schools chaired by Frank Flowers. Follow up exams for 42 students and 18 pairs of glasses chaired by Porter Kier.

· Bud Disney chaired the Peace Poster Contest, which had 45 entries from the Northumberland Schools.

· The Lions collected 509 pairs of glasses, 248 pairs of sun glasses, and 16 hearing aids chaired by Bob Binsky

· Chairman Dick Wiley was in charge of our Medical Equipment Warehouse where hospital beds, wheel chairs, crutches, walkers could be borrowed free of charge.

In order to do these projects for the community, the Lions have to raise funds. Last year we raised funds by:

· Our Broom Sales (Products from the blind) chaired by Mike Harwood

· White Cane Days, twice a year, spring and fall chaired by Tony Innocenti and Al Dessenberger

· Christmas Fruit Cake Sales chaired by Sonny Ash

· Turkey Shoots held at the Callao Moose Lodge and chaired by Ray Myers

· The Annual Blue Fish Derby beer ticket sales chaired by Frank Flowers

The Northumberland Lions Club is as much social as it is work.The Lions meet at T&T’s restaurant on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 6 p.m. for dinner and socializing. Currently there are 50 members in the club. We’re always looking for new people who would like to involve themselves in their community. If you are interested in becoming a Lion, you may write us expressing your interest at: Northumberland Lions Club, Box 36, Reedville, Virginia 22539.
Information about the Lions Club can be found on the Internet at: www.lionsclubs.org