Our reporting area has a large number of active clubs. American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Owls, Eagles, Rotary. There is a club dedicated to the community for every taste.
The Rouzerville Lions Club is one of those clubs. We had an opportunity to chat with Lamar Sease, Denny O’Toole and Don Embly in one of their key areas of interest – Red Run Park.
Lions are among the largest service organizations in the world. Established in 1917, they now boast 1.4 million men and women serving their communities in over 50,000 clubs in 200 + countries. Their purpose: to make a lasting impact and change lives. In addition to Rouzerville, there are clubs nearby in Waynesboro, Smithsburg, Greencastle and Fairfield. “The mission of all Lions Club through out the world is to prevent blindness and hearing loss. Helen Keller asked the Lions to become knights of the blind” said Sease.
The Rouzerville Lions have a 1949 charter which makes them one of the older clubs in the area. Their activities center on kids in Rouzerville. Their oldest member is Lamar who joined in 1969.
“Red Run Park maintenance has been a centerpiece of the club’s activities since before I joined” said Sease. “The Lions built the first modern rest rooms, which have now become the Township Park maintenance building. We rebuilt the current rest rooms for the park as the old facilities showed signs of wear, and repaired the train’s water tower when it needed help as well” he said. “We built all the original picnic tables with particularly heavy legs to avoid theft”.
“Red Run Park is only one way the club serves the community” said O’Toole, before running off a long list of ways they serve. “Some of what we do is pretty obvious, though you might not know who is behind it, while other things don’t draw much attention at all”.
Lions Clubs are famous for their efforts to collect old eye wear and redistribute them to people who cannot afford new glasses. “We’re particularly proud of our support for Beacon Lodge, a blind camp in Juniatta” said Sease “but we also support the blind in other ways. For example, when we find someone who needs some help, we find inobtrusive ways to help them.” The Beacon Lodge camp is located near the town of Mt Union, Pa , near the Juniata river.
The Rouzerville Club is involved in a number of local activities, including several car shows each year, including the Rouzerville Lions Car Show held at Red Run Park on July 9th), and they help the Rouzerville Business Association run their car show in August. They also offer academic and vocational scholarships, and a Chicken Corn Soup Picnic. “We support the Washington Township Police Association, provide hospital equipment like walkers and crutches for local patients, and help The Institute and Renfrew where we can” said Sease.
The club also makes a big effort during holidays. “Christmas is very big” said Sease. “We provide the Santa for the Christmas Parade who rides in a sleigh we’ve maintained. We also sponsor a Christmas Magic Show with prize drawings, and a Santa’s Breakfast the first Saturday in December where kids under 12 eat for free. We also host an Easter Egg Hunt in Red Run Park each year”. This club held the first Easter Egg Hunt for blind children, using plastic eggs with a beeping device inside it. The “beeping egg” was then traded back to the club for real candy.
You might suspect a club this active has a lot of resources, but you would be wrong. “We have very few assets – a small shed, a coffee urn and a few other things. It doesn’t take a lot of equipment to do what we do. Our biggest assets are our club members. It’s amazing what a dedicated group of people can do if they work at it consistently over many years” said Sease.
For more information on the Rouzerville Lions Club, contact Lamar Sease at [email protected].
