The Leonardtown Lions Club hosted a Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, April 19, at the Episcopal Church on St. Andrews Road. Lions Frank Nuhfer (left) and John Brown are seen assisting one of the blood donors, Mrs. Kathleen Kirby, wife of the President (King Lion) of the Club, George Kirby. Not pictured, but also very active that day, was Lion Joe Dunn, the Chairman of the group. 25 hours of volunteer work were contributed by the Lions.
Lion Joe Dunn reported that a total of 34 productive units of blood were collected by the Red Cross. It was an excellent day's work for everyone involved. The Blood Drive filled all the time slots and the Red Cross blood collection team was full-time busy keeping up with the donors!
Lion Joe: “Another very successful community support event for the Leonardtown Lions Club. It shows how important our annual donation to the Red Cross is, in making blood drawings like this possible and so successful.”
Did you know that Lions need glasses?
Leonardtown King Lion George Kirby (right) and fellow Leonardtown Lion John Brown calibrate donated eyeglasses at the Melwood Recycling Center.
Yes, Lions throughout the world need glasses. Not the kind of lions that bite, but the kind that help millions of people see clearly. That’s what the Lions of St. Mary’s County, the Hollywood, Leonardtown, Lexington Park, Mechanicsville and Ridge Lions, are doing each month by collecting as many eyeglasses as possible. And you can help too. In just about every home, one can find a pair of eyeglasses that are no longer used. Just drop them into one of the Lions Collection Boxes, which are located at various places in the County. That very same pair of glasses can change another person’s life. Here’s how it works: once the eyeglasses are collected locally, they are taken to a Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center where they are cleaned, calibrated by prescription strength, packaged and distributed to people in need, mostly in developing countries.
Bottom Line: by donating your glasses you may change someone's life. Imagine if you could help a child read. An adult succeed in his job. A senior maintain his/her independence. Lions accept prescription and reading glasses, sunglasses and plastic and metal frames. Children's glasses are especially needed. Here’s your chance to make a difference! Please contact Leonardtown Lions Jerry Pope (240-538-4448) or George Kirby (301-475-3188) for more information.
Is $5,000 Enough?
Leonardtown Lions David Guyther (left) and George Kirby (King Lion) present a $5,000 donation to Kathryn Franzen, Director of the St Mary's County Hospice.
In March, the Leonardtown Lions Club donated $5,000 to the Hospice of St. Mary’s County. The question posed here - is it enough? What can $5K really buy in today’s world? We already know the purpose of our Hospice: It offers physical, psychological, & spiritual care to those in end-stage illness, and bereavement support to the family and to the community. Now let’s see what the Hospice can do with these funds from the Lions Club:
First, maybe they could apply it to the $135K that their Hospice House gave in free or reduced room and board charges during the last half of 2012. After all, Hospice feels that if a patient needs to be at the house, they can be there regardless of their ability to pay. Secondly, they could use the funds to make up for losses when insurance reimbursement only covers a small portion of a patient’s total medication, equipment and required staff costs. Or maybe put some of the donation toward bereavement counseling which is offered free of charge to any in the community who are struggling with grief. Then perhaps apply some of the $5K toward their Sunrise Camp – a 2.5 day grief-support camp for children ages 6-12, who have lost a loved one through death. Last year they had 19 kids at camp with no charge whatsoever to the families. The list of Hospice needs go on-and-on.
No, $5K is not nearly enough, but it does help and our Lions Club is so fortunate to be able to give. We only wish we could do more. And maybe we can if our Crab Festival is successful in June. But for now, hopefully, other organizations in our County will also step up and support the Hospice financially. The Hospice needs their help – many citizens of our County, who find themselves as a patient in a Hospice bed, need their help. Our thanks to the Hospice for being there and caring – please support them!
Lions of St. Mary’s County Doing What They Do Best
A joint effort by the Leonardtown and Lexington Park Lions Clubs of St. Mary’s County took place in April when the two clubs provided both vision and hearing testing for children of the Little Flower School in Great Mills. One of our best schools in the county, they have classes ranging from pre-K to the 8th grade. The Lions were very impressed by the behavior and the positive attitude of the students.
Preparing to start the testing, pictured left to right: Lexington Park Lions Bruce Maynard and Jess Davis, and Leonardtown Lions George Kirby, John Brown, Carl Raley and Jerry Pope. Not pictured: Leonardtown Lions Kennedy Abell, Gil Moore and wife of Lion Don Fincham. To see other pictures of this event, visit gil39.smugmug.com/Lions-Club/Little-Flower-School/.