Not Political, Not Religious: Lions Club Is ‘Just Here to Serve’
By SARAH ROBERTS
COOPERSTOWN
The motto “We Serve” echoes through Lions Club International’s five main service pillars: diabetes, vision, hunger, environment and childhood cancer. Founded in 1950, the Cooperstown Lions Club is one of many in this global network of locally centered business clubs. These five key tenets of their dedication to bettering their community and the lives of those in it provide them plenty of opportunities to face and challenges to overcome.
The Cooperstown chapter of the Lions Club is involved in many causes that may be familiar to readers, including the Susquehanna River Clean Up, the Cooperstown Winter Carnival, the Lions Scholarship and more.
“Through the Lions Recycle for Sight Program, we’ve sent several boxes of usable glasses to serve those living in low- and middle-income countries that lack access to basic eye-care services. Locally, we regularly provide funds for children to obtain eye exams and eyeglasses,” said Jim Donaldson, Cooperstown Lions Club president.
The Cooperstown Lions Club also provides shoppers utilizing SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) at the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market with a match, doubling the amount of local produce, goods, and food they could purchase, up to $20.00 additional. The program provides residents with more healthy, locally produced food, and the local economy and farmers with more business.
“This program was funded in part by a gift-wrapping-for-donations campaign last holiday season,” Donaldson said.
The gift-wrapping campaign was repeated again this year.
Additionally, in May local Lions helped repair water damaged plant beds and pulled weeds at the Children’s Garden, an outdoor classroom space at Cooperstown Central School.
Donaldson said the Lions “would like to continue to grow our club, in order to be able to expand our reach. There has been a youth movement within our club over the past year or so…Our new members are energetic and add new talents to our club. We want to cultivate these talents and enlist even more community members to join.”
The Cooperstown Lions Club is celebrating its 75th year of service, and will fulfill specific needs as they arise. When asked what, specifically, the Lions Club has planned for the near future, Donaldson was happy to discuss.
“Our biggest fundraiser of the year is Christmas tree sales. We purchase trees from various growers and sell them at the lot adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce. The proceeds from the sale of trees goes into our Sight and Community Service Fund, which is our general fund,” Donaldson explained.
Also contributing to the Sight and Community Service Fund is money raised through a Winter Carnival Pancake Breakfast, scheduled for Saturday, February 1 and Sunday, February 2 at the Veterans Club on Main Street.
When asked what the Lions Club means to him, Donaldson said, “Life is short, and precious, and wonderful, and messy. It is full of both good fortune and suffering. If you have good fortune and the ability to relieve suffering, you should.”
“We frequently partner with and serve civic and faith-based organizations in our community,” Donaldson continued, “but the Lions Club is neither a political nor a religious organization. This is written in the Lions Club International charter. In these politically-charged times, we have taken a moment to remind ourselves that we are here to serve all those in need. And we welcome all who share this value to join our club.”
The Cooperstown Lions Club can be reached at cooperstownlionsclub@gmail.com. Meetings are held every first and third Wednesday of the month, except July and August, starting at 6:30 p.m. at Upstate Bar and Grill, 5418 State Highway 28, Cooperstown.