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Lions hosting pancake breakfast<br>

The pancake breakfast is only one longstanding tradition for the service group, which has been chartered at Grand Canyon since 1961.

“We’re a service organization,” said club member Keith Green. “We do whatever we can do to help the community.”

While the group is small – they number 12, the lowest membership they can have and still retain their charter – they have a big impact on the community, offering two scholarships this year, purchasing eyeglasses for local students in need, sponsoring the local Daisy Scout troop and hosting parenting classes. They’ve given to the Community Relief Fund; to school activities such as author visits, Odyssey of the Mind and the Artist-in-Residence program; to the Valle-Wood Volunteer Fire Department; to the Kaibab Learning Center; and to a range of local, statewide, national and international Lions Club initiatives such as the state summer camp and the international VisionFirst program. All money raised through fund-raising goes back out as donations. The group raises the funding ally for dues and administrative costs.

The International Association of Lions Clubs began in Chicago in 1917, started by businessman Melvin Jones, who wanted to be part of a local business club that gave back to the community. One of the group’s main tenets is that “no club shall hold out the financial betterment of its members as its object.” The group adopted its VisionFirst program, which includes its prescription eyeglass collection initiative, following a 1925 challenge by Helen Keller to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.”

Since its inception, the Lions Club International has grown to number 1.4 million members in 193 countries.

 The Grand Canyon Lions meet on the first and third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the Quality Inn in Tusayan. According to member Dan Tobin, the club needs new members in order to stay viable.

“We really need people to join,” he said. “If membership drops much lower, we might have to disband.”

Anyone interested in joining can show up at a meeting. They can also call Green at 638-0666 or Club President Ginny Donley at 638-2914 for more information.

“We’re always looking for new members with a willingness to serve the community,” said Tobin.


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