Last Updated 5-28-10
HISTORY
NORTHWESTERN LIONS CLUB
The Northwestern Lions Club was established September 6, 1969 when President Don Thomas was presented with the Charter from the International Association of Lions Clubs by President Eugene Pearson, Russiaville Lions Club The presentation was made at a dinner meeting in the Northwestern High School cafeteria. Past International Director A. Garland Hardy was the Charter Night speaker. There were 69 new Lions inducted into the Northwestern Lions Club at the meeting.
The first year saw the Northwestern Lions Club run three and a half projects. First, a television raffle netted the Club about $750. Second, a broom project in the three townships of the school corporation netted about $50, in addition to helping the blind because we bought the brooms from the Indiana Agency for the Blind. For our third project that year, we sponsored the Northwestern High School sports award banquet. Our final project that year was only half completed before the end of the Lions fiscal year. We sold advertising for a seat cushion, and then sold the cushions the next year at the Northwestern football and basketball games.
Over the years the Northwestern Lions Club has had a good balance between moneymaking projects and community projects. We have supported LIONS STATE and INTERNATIONAL projects including the EYE BANK, LEADER DOGS, CANCER CONTROL (including contributing to the linear accelerator at the Medical Center in Indianapolis), SPEECH and HEARING, DIABETES, QUEST, CARE, SIGHT FIRST, and SIGHT FIRST II. The Club also donated to the LIONS MILLION DOLLAR PLEDGE towards the GAMMA KNIFE and IU Medical Center's Oncology Department in Indianapolis. Northwestern Lions Club does KidSight eye screening and partners with local police doing the children's ID program. Local projects include selling things such as cake (we had a cakewalk once), fruitcake, license plates, nuts, oranges, grapefruit, other citrus fruit, pineapple, pears, and apples. Halloween candy, other candy, roses, brooms, chili soup, cornbread, coke, ice cream, caramel corn, mints, tickets, raffle tickets, etc.
We have paid for numerous eye examinations and glasses for needy kids, also a machine to assist the school nurse in detecting “lazy” eyes in elementary students, and have collected many pairs of glasses for the needy throughout the world. Some Northwestern Lions have assisted in typing glasses at Daleville and Greentown Indiana. We have given many scholarships to Northwestern Graduates to assist them with their higher education. We have cleaned roadsides on U.S. #31 and Ind. #22. We have had representatives at most Zone, District, and State events. We have moved playground equipment, painted benches, built bird feeders, moved rocks, swept, moped up, and done just about anything to make our community a better place in which to live At Northwestern,
“WE SERVE.”
We have also done things that were not for the purpose of making money such as tours of Bunker Hill Air Force Base (now Grissom Air Force Reserve Base), Continental Steel Corporation (now defunct), plants at Delco Electronics, etc., and we even went to see the Indiana Pacers at the fairgrounds in Indianapolis before they really amounted to anything.
In recent years we have participated in ticket sales for both the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and the Brickyard 400, and also the Moto GP Motorcycle Race. We have also sold tickets for the Indiana State Fair, ushered for shows at the fair, sold water and soft drinks. Thus, we still support the Indiana Lions in their activities.
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MISSION
STATEMENT:
The mission of the Northwestern Lions Club
members is to volunteer their time and service to humanitarian causes in their
local and world communities. Through
their service projects and raising funds, the club members will strive to help
those in need.
Contact us at:
President Lion Karen Rush
ferush@comcast.net (765)457-5129
or
Secretary Lion Harold Seaman (765)883-7785