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The Forest Grove 94 Lions Club will stay open

‘It’s a worthy group and everybody is welcome.’
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The log shelter, built by Pete van Osch, and all facilities at Ruth Lake Park are maintained by the Forest Grove 94 Lions. Beth Audet photo.

The Forest Grove 94 Lions Club is staying open and will continue to serve its community in 2018/2019.

The club had previously been set to close at the end of June due to lack of new membership.

Although the club is yet to recruit new blood, Chris Cummings and Dale Gent the club’s president and treasurer have agreed to persist along with long-time member Cindy Whitehead, who has stepped up to fulfill the secretary role.

Having three key executives in position is enough to continue operating.

“The Lions are keen to continue,” said Cummings, who has been president for six years.

“We’re looking forward to keeping the activities we do and we’re just hopeful that people will want to help out with that.”

These activities include managing Ruth Lake park, the curling rink and the Redneck Regatta, while supplying emergency firewood and providing walkers, crutches or wheelchairs to people in need.

The Redneck Regatta is the only casualty for this summer as the club lost essential planning hours while it hung in limbo.

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Cummings said the upcoming year will focus on activities that promote membership. The club’s goal is to recruit seven or more new members this year, bringing total membership up to at least 20.

“We hope people will look at the good things we do and want to be a part of it,” he said.

Curling is set to resume in September and Cummings said he is hopeful the number of teams, which halved after last summer’s wildfires, will rebound this year.

“We’re looking forward to a bright future for the club,” he said.

Cindy Whitehead, the club’s new secretary, said she stepped up because she didn’t want to see the Lions collapse.

“We’ve got projects near and dear to our hearts that need completing and we don’t want to give them up,” she said.

For her and her husband, Paul, who has been a Lions member for seven years, Ruth Lake Park is their biggest motivation to contribute.

“Everything that’s there - the float, the stairs, the log cover picnic shelter, the tables and the outhouses - are there because of the Lions.”

The couple had already talked about supplying toilet paper and mowing the lawn if the club had folded, she said.

Now that the club remains intact, she said the Lions will continue improving the facilities by adding a brick floor and bench.

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The Lions Clubs International’s motto is simple: “We Serve.”

Whitehead mirrored this sentiment, saying: “It’s not just for fun, it’s for the joy of providing service to your community.”

She urged people who don’t want to see essential services lost to join the club.

“We need fresh ideas and we’re open to all kinds of suggestions.”

She said the club is open and casual and that it’s a great way to get to know the people in your community.

“It’s a worthy group and everybody is welcome.”

Anyone wishing to join the Forest Grove 94 Lions is encouraged to call Cummings at 250-397-2892, or get in touch with any of their members, all of whom, he said, are fairly well-known in the community.

The Forest Grove 94 Lions is technically on summer break and meetings will resume formally on Thursday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m.

However, club members will be present at the Hootstock Festival on Saturday, July 28, to run a pancake breakfast.

The breakfast is the first of many activities the club will be running to make itself more visible to the community.

Cummings said he wants people to know that member obligations are not crippling.

“There isn’t an expectation that you have to attend every single meeting,” or help out every Sunday to help run a project, he said.

“We serve to the best that we can within what people can offer … we just do the best we can.”


beth.audet@100milefreepress.net

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