By Gary Bennett and J. Lynn Stimmel
This article appeared in the October 25, 2022 issue of the Frederick News Post
If you’re newly retired, thinking about retiring, or you’ve been retired for quite some time, you might find yourself wanting to get more involved in your community.
A local Lions club is a great place to start.
You certainly don’t have to be retired to request membership in a local club, but it does help. According to Lions statistics, more than half of all members in the district that serves Frederick County are 65 or older. Another one-third are in the second half of their working lives, ages 45 to 65.
For retired folks, membership and community service through Lions clubs can give lives new meaning after your working days are over.
Lions often talk about the aha moment when true community care becomes clear to them.
For Susan Favorite of the Thurmont Lions Club, that moment came a number of years ago.
“We had conducted a pre-school vision screening on several children in the community. We had a child that came up with ‘refer’ as the recommendation, meaning the child should see an ophthalmologist,” Favorite recalls. “In the end, that the young child needed glasses. The story of how that child looked at its mother after putting those glasses on and saying “Mommy, I can see you now” makes me tear up to this day.”
Other Lions are young professionals and even students in middle school, high school and college who form what are called Leo clubs. Lions welcome anyone, even if they have limited time to help.
Lions are arguably the world’s most active service club. They get involved in just about every human need imaginable. As its literature puts it: “Where there’s a need, there’s a Lion.”
Indeed, each Lions club has its own service focus, but there are five global causes of particular interest that Lions seek to address:
• Reduce the prevalence of diabetes and improve quality of life for those diagnosed
• Prevent avoidable blindness and improve quality of life for people who are blind and visually impaired
• Ensure all community members have access to nutritious foods
• Protect and restore our environment to improve the well-being of all communities
• Support the needs of children and families affected by childhood cancer.
There are over 48,000 Lions clubs and 1.4 million members worldwide. They are located in every continent and in more than 200 countries. In the U.S., Lions clubs are in every state and just about every town of every size.
The umbrella organization, Lions Club International, is large, but individual Lions clubs are relatively small. Local Lions clubs enjoy national and international support but have wide latitude in how they operate, what they do and how they serve their communities. Most Lions clubs in Frederick County have between 20 and 50 members.
It’s also worth noting how Lions clubs have also stood the test of time. They’ve been around for more than 100 years, formed in 1917 by a Chicago business leader, Melvin Jones, who wondered what would happen if people put their talents to work improving their communities.
Lions from Maryland have been here almost from the start, too.
This past August, Lions from Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia met in Hunt Valley to celebrate 100 years as a multiple district.
The Lions club of Frederick also just celebrated its centennial anniversary.
Frederick County is part of Lions district 22W, which includes Maryland’s five westernmost counties. Several of these Lions clubs currently serve Frederick County. Three serve Frederick city — Frederick, Frederick Fusion and Francis Scott Key clubs. Most other Frederick municipalities and towns have their own clubs, too — Brunswick, Emmitsburg, Libertytown, Middletown, Mount Airy, Myersville, New Market, Thurmont and Walkersville-Woodsboro.
In Frederick County, Lions give countless hours of their time and energy to live up to their very simple motto of “We serve.” Lions reported that last year alone, this multiple district served more than 700,000 people with more than 6,000 service projects and nearly 150,000 volunteer hours.
The following list of service projects only scratches the surface of what Lions do for the Frederick area:
• Provide recycled, used eyeglasses to those in need
• Provide used medical equipment to those in need
• Provide free vision screenings (and will soon introduce their first Mobile Screening Unit van that will travel to where they are needed most)
• Help to eliminate preventable blindness through Lions Vision Research Rehabilitation Center in conjunction with Wilmer Eye Institute
• Provide financial assistance to the Lions Vision Research Foundation (LVRF) that provides assistance and support of the Lions Vision Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore
• Provide used hearing aids and batteries to those in need
• Provide support to veterans, those with diabetes and those with pediatric cancer
• Improve the environment by planting trees and cleaning up parks and roads
• Support and help fund training of Leader Dogs for the Blind
• Support Lions Camp Merrick, a camp for children with Type 1 diabetes located in Charles County
• Hold community drives for food, blood, shoes and warm clothes
• Support “Sleep in Heavenly Peace” project that supplies beds to children who need them
• Provide scholarships for graduating seniors
• Assist schools and Little League teams with supplies and funding
• Bring the community together in service with such events as “Roar Like a Lion” Day.
“It’s a revitalization of spirit,” according to First Vice District Governor Jeremy Bair of Westminster. “As someone in their 40s, I will never be in a fraternity again. Lions provide an opportunity to regenerate that sense of community and service that are part of fond memories of growing up through college. Before you know it, your interest in the Lions may have you inviting a neighbor, friend, child or grandchild in as a member.”
