Sorry For The Delay

It's been a year of rollercoaster rides for us! But we're growing, and we even have a Leo Club for the kids now. Never thought we'd see THAT, as we started with only six or seven ACTIVE members, then hit the MAGIC NUMBER, when we finally had enough members to really DO things. Not that we hadn't been doing what Lions always do---providing eyeglasses/hearing aides to the needy---but with more members came more ideas, and more hands!
I finally got myself a nice compact digital camera, so you can see our club members for the first time. Of course, I didn't get the photos in the proper order. Nevertheless, I'll give a brief description of each photo, beginning with the upper left-hand corner and continuing across, then down to the left again...
The first photo shows our newest member, Heidi, receiving her Lions pin from Diane, her sponsor. The next shows part of our initiation ceremony (which doesn't last more than fifteen minutes), with Donna reading from the Lions Clubs International Initiation Speech paper (the reason the candle is lit will be explained in the next two photos.
As you can see, Heidi (left) and Diane have lighted candles from the big one, but the NEXT photo is what happened before that.

You see that Heidi has a blindfold over her eyes, which symbolizes the darkness of the blind. Back in the 1920s, Helen Keller (left deaf, blind and mute from a disease in babyhood, but brought to speech by a wonderful teacher named Annie Sullivan), came to the Lions to ask that they "become her Knights Of The Blind", to help those in need of sight receive the care to enable them to function as normally as possible. They accepted and, years later with "tears in her sightless eyes", she returned to thank her "Knights Of The Blind" for their devotion. Ever since, Lions have been involved with providing glasses, treating blindness, and working to eliminate the causes of "Preventable Blindness", such as River Disease---along with a host of other community health projects.

Here is Donna swearing in the two people in the next photo, husband and wife Doug and Diane, as officers. Behind Donna, the seated gentleman in the white cap is Glenn, our Immediate Past President, who got our club rolling back in 1978! As you can probably tell, none of us is particularly "well off", which shows that membership in Lions Clubs International is available to ALL, regardless of income, status, etc. I once thought you had to be rich to be a Lion, but our dues are only $40 per year! Plus the fact that you can pay in two ( or more) installments as necessary. All you need is an endorsement by a current member, and that's it. (Naturally, you're expected to "be have yourself" and be a good citizen).

Here we have a slice of Diane, then Heidi, and finally another one of our founding members, Theresa, who's probably held every office in the club at one time or another! She and Glenn were the ONLY members not so long ago, but they kept it going despite everything. And here's Donna mugging for the camera; she's our "guardian angel", so to speak. She belongs to the Epsom/Chichester Lions Club, on TOP of helping ours! Without her, we might not have had the strength to keep going.
And, lastly, here's Glenn once again with our current president, Mark. I never thought to have someone take a picture of me, naturally.
Please think about joining a Lions Club in your area, because it feels so GOOD to help those in need. And remember, you may ALSO need help someday, too. I've only been a Lion for a year, and yet these people are so much MORE than just friends----we're FAMILY. Yes, we're there for each other, just like family. If you want to feel "needed" and "useful" in this world of alienation, there's nothing better than to join the Lions. Alone, we can't do very much, but together we can move mountains!