South Elginite receives U.S. President's Volunteer Service Award

South Elgin Lion Leo Snyder of South Elgin was presented with the U.S. President's Volunteer Service Award and the Lions International Leadership Award. The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation (the Council) was established in 2003 by President George Bush to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and encourage more people to serve. The Council created the President's Volunteer Service Award program as a way to thank and honor Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service. The lions who have received this award have sacrificed their own time, money and resources to brighten the lives of those in their communities. To receive this award, the recipient must have volunteered at least 4,000 hours of volunteer service.

For those who know Snyder, he is not one to just sit by when he feels that something needs to be done to help others in need. This passion was evident in May of 1999 when Haysville, Kansas took a direct hit from an F4 Tornado that destroyed parts of the city and killed six residents. On his own initiative, Lion Leo started a South Elgin Lions fundraiser to raise money for Haysville. He then drove down to Kansas to personally deliver a check for over $3,000 to Haysville Lions Club to be used for the benefit of the Haysville community.

Even with his responsibilities as Governor of District 1J, Snyder has taken on several additional responsibilities on the state level, including speaking at meetings statewide and planning the Lions State Convention when this year's chair resigned unexpectedly. In South Elgin, he has chaired the Club's Holiday Food Basket program for the last four years and distributing an average of 175 baskets to the residents of South Elgin each year and last year teamed up with the Kane County Cougars to provide jackets to those in need. When Snyder is not busy with the Lions, he stays active in the South Elgin community and has served on the South Elgin River Fest Committee for the last sixteen years.