Local Lions keep hunting for ways to help
When needy families received Thanksgiving baskets from the Vernon Township and St. Vincent DePaul food pantries this year, they had the Long Grove Lions Club, at least in part, to thank.
When more than 100 needy children in Waukegan attend a Christmas party next month and receive a gift from Santa, it will be because of the hard work and community spirit of the 42 men and women of the Long Grove Lions Club.
And throughout the year when school nurses in the Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Hawthorne Woods and Kildeer area discover that a child needs an eye exam, eyeglasses or a hearing aid and their parents cannot afford it, it is the Long Grove Lions whom they phone for financial assistance.
Since the Long Grove chapter of the international service organization was founded in 1986, the club has raised and distributed just under $520,000 to local charities. That amounts to almost $25,000 per year in charitable giving, both to well-known charities like Clearbrook Center, PADS, Omni House, Lamb's Farm and Canine Companions, and to very local efforts like the food pantry, a medical fund for a teenager with cancer and construction of the Long Grove gazebo.
Last spring they even sponsored a group of eight college students who wanted to travel to Biloxi, Miss., to help with the rebuilding effort after Hurricane Katrina.
"The Long Grove Lions Club generously sponsored us to go down there for a weeklong trip," said Steve Krueger. "We worked primarily on two houses, nearly completing one and getting very far with the other. Both homes had been started when we got there. We are planning a return trip this summer and the Lions Club has offered to sponsor this trip as well."
"Lions is the best charitable secret going," said Pat Kenny, president of the club this year.
"As a group we can do more than any one of us could do individually," club secretary Bill Murray said, "and that is why I belong."
The members range in age from 25 to 90. They represent a wide variety of professions, including realtors, restaurant owners, store owners, insurance representatives, accountants and even a pallet manufacturer. They come from several communities including Long Grove, Buffalo Grove, Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer and Lincolnshire, according to Murray.
"A number of the Lions Clubs around us in Buffalo Grove and Lincolnshire have folded in recent years," Murray said, "so we have absorbed their members and their need. There is always a need out there."
To raise these impressive funds, the Lions have tried a number of different events. Currently, they hold an annual golf outing at Royal Melbourne; they park cars at Long Grove's annual Chocolate Fest in May; and they park cars and sell beer at the annual Strawberry Fest in June and Apple Fest in October.
"We worked out a deal with Midwest Bank to use their parking lot for the festivals and charge a fee to park there," Murray said. "Since all of the funds go to charity, we get a lot of cars."
Members also stand on street corners in early October during their annual Candy Day appeal. That money helps fight blindness and diabetes, according to Kenny.
The Long Grove Lions used to also cook and sell brats at Apple Fest, but increased competition from commercial vendors made the Lions abandon that fundraiser. They also turned over to the Rotary Club their interest in the annual Long Grove 10K Run, Murray said.
The Long Grove Lions meet at 6:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month for a casual dinner and meeting at the Village Tavern, 135 Old McHenry Road, Long Grove.