Heart BEAT

Lions Are Always There

WAITSBURG - When anyone in the community needs a new pair of glasses, funding for after-school programs or new lights for athletic fields in Waitsburg, the Lions Club is always there to help.

"Our community would be lacking very dramatically if it hadn't been for the (Lions Club's) fundraising efforts," said Bret Moser, the club's president.

The club, chartered in Waitsburg in 1964, now has 80 members and about 25 to 30 members who attend the club's bi-monthly meetings, said member Neil Carpenter.

"We pretty much everyone out," Carpenter said.

The club has always been about service and providing for the community.

Waitsburger Jack Mc- Caw joined the Lions shortly after the club was chartered because the club needed a softball pitcher for its big game against the Prescott Lions Club.

McCaw said he can't remember who won that softball game, but it sure was fun, and he's been part of the club ever since.

When the Waitsburg Lions Club was chartered, Mc- Caw said there wasn't really any group like it in town. The Jaycees, another kind of service club, had disbanded and members from the Jaycees ended up becoming Lions, he said.

Over time, the number of active members has really fluctuated, but every man who considers himself a Lion comes out for the fundraising events each year, McCaw said .

And fundraise they do. During winter time each year, the club members smoke turkeys and sell them for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Last week, a handful of Lions were in the cook shack at the fairgrounds in rubber boots up to their elbows in turkeys. The turkeys were ripped out of their packaging, had their gizzards extracted and set in darkcolored, smoky-smelling, brine to soak. While it wasn't the most beautiful sight in the world, the turkeys were sure to be delicious once cooked and on a holiday dinner table.

In addition to selling the turkeys, the club puts on a rib feed each May, helps dish up buffalo during the Fall Festival and it used to flip hamburgers during the Days of Real Sport when the horse races were ongoing in Waitsburg. This year, McCaw estimates that the biggest fundraiser will be the rib feed.

Carpenter said the club raises about $15,000 each year.

"We've always had very good support from the community," McCaw said. "I don't think we've ever turned down anybody who needed money."

And with all of the money the club raises, it goes back into the Waitsburg community .

Over the years of its existence, the club has sent kids to camp, made the little league field, put lights on the softball field and the football field, donated money to the food bank, sent kids to Washington, D.C., built the cook shack at the fairgrounds that the city can rent out, provide the health screening van to the community each year, buy eye glasses for those in need, help fund cornea transplants, provided funding to keep the city pool open as well and Cardinal's Nest after-school program running, help the Leos Club at the high school with its annual food drive and donated money to the Mat Birds, 4-H, little league, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.

The Lions Club most recently gave $2,000 to the Waitsburg Resource Center to help it provide food for the needy through the winter months.

"The money made through the club stays in Waitsburg," Carpenter said.

In addition to its local efforts, the club's national dues support eye health across the nation and helps out different countries in times of need, most recently helping Haiti after the earthquake and Japan after the tsunami, he said.

Not only is being a member of the club helpful to the community, but each member also enjoys the camaraderie, memories and new connections the club makes for them.

Moser joined the Lions seven years ago. He said he saw the Lions as a great organization that gave a lot back to the community and personally had a lot of respect for its members.

"I appreciated what the club was doing," he said.

Moser said he realized that through attending the club meetings every second and fourth Tuesday and through participating in the fundraisers, he got to know the people in the town much better,

"If somebody moves to town, it's a really good way to get to know the community," Moser said. "The most important thing is the friendships."

One of McCaw's favorite aspects of the club has been singing in a men's quartet. The quartet was started early in the club's history and it would travel to conventions in Canada and Washington. Now, some of the original members are gone, but others have filled their spots and McCaw said the group still sings at events including the Elks Club memorial service.

The members' lives are enriched by the club and Waitsburg residents get the help they need because of it.

"Waitsburg is better for having the club," McCaw said.

The club is always happy to have new members. For more information about the club, contact Neil Carpenter or any club member.