Lions Club celebrates 75th

Evan Nemeroff

For 75 years, the Lions Club of Great Neck has provided humanitarian service to the community by helping those who are less fortunate or have problems with their health.

But last Thursday night, the club took a night to benefit their own efforts by celebrating its 75th anniversary with a dinner at Bevanda Restaurant.

“I want to thank all those who have given their time and talent to make this celebration a success,” said Barbara Leopold, president of the Great Neck Lions Club of Great Neck. “This is a community-minded organization that is really fun to be a part of. I am thrilled with being a member of this organization for everything that we do to help others. It’s a good feeling participating in activities and fundraisers to help other lives.”

The Lions Club of Great Neck is a non-denominational group of men and women of all ages, from all walks of life, that was chartered in 1935. The Lions Club of Great Neck, which has about 20 members, organizes a variety of events that deals with community problems including blindness, drug abuse prevention and diabetes awareness.

Lions Club of Great Neck members volunteer in different activities throughout the year including participating in the eye bank with North Shore University Hospital, supporting the Great Neck Senior Center, raising money to help send diabetic and blind children to summer camp, donating Waldbaums gift cards to the less fortunate for Thanksgiving, creating holiday food baskets for the needy by working with Temple Beth El Rabbi Meir Feldman and Reverend Monsignor Brendan Riordan at St. Aloysius Church, and sending stuff animals to local children’s hospitals. The Lions Club of Great Neck also donated two magnifiers to the Great Neck Library to assist those who are visually impaired the opportunity to read.

Leo Shear has been a member of the Lion’s Club for 40 years and was a big contributor to the organization’s efforts in raising $40,000 to get a support guide dog for the blind named for him. The Lions Club of Great Neck has five sponsored dogs that cost $40,000 each to help individuals who are blind.

“There are many people who need a support dog for assistance and I wanted to help them,” Shear said. “These individuals deserve to do the same daily activities that the rest of us do every day but rely upon the help of a dog to perform these actions. I thought it would be a caring and warm gesture to give money to support this effort.”

The Lions Club is the world’s largest and most active organization dedicated to community service with nearly 1.4 million members in 197 countries. Leopold said the Lions Club of Great Neck is the only organization that sits in with the United Nations. The Lions Club of Great Neck is in the process of organizing a Leo Club for anybody 12 years or older that wants to learn about the club and take part in its yearly activities.

John Pinnella is a past president of the Lions Club from 1998 to 2000 and said he wanted to be a member of the organization to do something for the community where he lived and worked for 50 years.

“I had an opportunity to give something back to the people of Great Neck and wanted to do this,” Pinnella said. “I am fortunate not to need assistance, but wanted to help those who do rely upon assistance every day. There are myths that everyone in Great Neck is rich and does not need help, but this is not true.”

The Lions Club hold its meetings the first and third Tuesday of every month at 12 p.m. at Bevanda Restaurant, located at 570 Middle Neck Road. There is a $91 yearly fee for anybody to join the organization.

Fern Weiss is the secretary of the Lions Club and recently joined the organization after retiring from her job at the Great Neck Park District.

“I attended a meeting and liked what I heard,” Weiss said. “I knew I wanted to be part of this club because of what it does for the local community. The club keeps me busy and I am happy with my decision.”

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