Anniversary a reason to recognize charter members
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, April 14, 2015
By Sheila Runions
Banner Staff
Last week we reported Rivers and Area Lions Club was celebrating its 40th anniversary in conjunction with their hosting of Governor’s Night on Saturday, April 4. Club reports were shared from those in the district (Rivers, Rapid City, Hamiota, Kenton, Oak Lake, Virden), Rivers Legion and Auxiliary were thanked for catering the supper and tending bar, and David Caldwell of Kenton provided entertainment — telling jokes which he interspersed with his vocal solos, accompaning himself on guitar.
Zone chairman Jim Boles (also a Rivers member) emceed this official visit for 5M13 District Governor Omer Champigny of Oak Lake. Jim told the 80-some people that Rivers was chartered on April 24, 1975 with 51 names; today 16 of those are still alive and only two are still Lion members. Nonetheless, Rivers invited all 16 to the anniversary; seven (pictured) attended and accepted charter certificates from local president Don Montague. Lion members Scotty McIntosh and Ben Ward (both now of Brandon) also received 40-year chevrons.
Omer presented membership chevrons to district clubs; those received in the coverage area of Rivers Banner were 15 years for Marvin Wiens (Kenton), Doug Dickenson and Lawrence McFarlane (Rivers) and 10 years for Cindy Fontana (Kenton) and John Lyons (Rivers). Omer gave Jim Boles the Year-round Growth Pin for his efforts in sponsoring five new members in the 2014-15 year. Murray Kernaghan of Rivers was presented the Hope Medal, an award provided by Manitoba Lions Medical Assistance Program (MAP). MAP supplies the medal to any club which has given at least $400; Rivers has qualified for the medal for many years and presents it in order of membership seniority. The Ben Ward Fellowship Award (an etched acrylic plaque) and certificate were presented by Omer to Bob Good of Kenton. This award is given to clubs which pledge more than $450 in three years to Manitoba’s infant hearing test program; Kenton won the award and opted to give it to Bob.
Following these presentations Omer gave his official speech which focused on membership retention and sponsoring new members to “strengthen the pride of Lions International” and its ambitious goal of serving 100 million people by its centennial in 2017. This challenge was issued in June 2014 and to date, 20 million people have been assisted by Lions Clubs throughout the world. When Omer initiated three new members (Brian Mitchell of Rivers and Yvonne Grant and Lisa Ballegeer of Rapid City) he thanked them for joining “the world’s largest and most active service club with more than 1.3 million members in 46,000 clubs in 210 countries.”
Jim claimed an American could have been supplied by Lions International as guest speaker for the anniversary but that Rivers wanted to remain local. They contacted Past International Director Ben Ward, who has been a member for 56 years. He’s won three international president awards, the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award (the highest honour given by Lions) and is a 5M Hall of Fame member. Ben also has local roots — he lived here for 11 years and served as president of Rivers Club in 1976 and 1977.
Ben stood at the podium and thanked Rivers for a chance to return home, “We still say Rivers is the best town we ever lived in. When you go into a community and then you leave, you never have the opportunity to say thank you. On behalf of the Ward family — all our kids are proud to say they’re from Rivers, they had the best teachers and coaches — thank you.”
He then called Benjamin Flanigan O’Toole to liven the mood with a number of jokes (Ben dressed in a green cap and sweater and donned a red beard). O’Toole asked the gathering to say a couple of cheers in the form of the word “Yahoo!” and after a hearty reply, declared himself to be in good company with a bunch of yahoos. Following the comedy routine, Ben returned and told the history of Rivers’ club, going back to the day when he peered out a window at Rivers Collegiate (he was principal, 1969-77) and “saw Morrie Faehnrich walking down the street. Back in those days, Lions had a person who was paid to recruit members. I was saddened to have to drive to Brandon for a club and I knew Morrie, so I said I’d help him try to build things up and Scotty McIntosh sold the idea to the people here. He was responsible for joining Oo-Za-We-Kwun and Rivers together; he got 25 people to sign to join this area. You have a very, very strong Lions Club; remember the pig raffle and bed races from Rivers to the valley and back? For 37 years this club has worked for seniors with your Christmas supper, which started as soup and sandwich and now is a full meal; that takes a lot of work.” He mentioned several club activities throughout the years such as beef suppers, fish fries, Rivers fair concession, battery collection, MAP donations and setting up local trusts for Rivers area people, Journey for Sight, pancake breakfasts and hearing aid collections. He concluded with a final thank you and said, “This is a great, great Lions Club!”
President Don verbally thanked Ben and then presented him a watch as a token of appreciation from Rivers and Area Lions Club. Rivers Legion Hall was tastefully decorated with Lion banners, scrapbooks, awards, certificates and even paper tablecloths full of Lions logos.
