2024-25 Club President Jim Ryan (703) 507-8696, Corresponding Secretary Kelly McGarvey (716) 491-8540
Mission: "We Serve" is the Lions' Motto. The mission of the Grand Island Lions Club is to help those in need in our community with special emphasis on the vision and hearing impaired, and children with disabilities. Major fundraisers include a spaghetti dinner in the spring and a "White Cane" drive in August. Our major event is the "Special Kids Picnic" in July when around one thousand special needs children from the Erie-Niagara area are treated to a picnic that includes a lunch along with boat rides, pony rides, and other entertainment. We also perform MTI Photo-screening of children's eyes (for early detection of eye disease) coordinated through the local school systems. In addition we collect eyeglasses and hearing aids for the disadvantaged and have a "loan closet" for distribution of walkers, wheelchairs and other durable goods. Our club is also active in a number of drives both locally and internationally to help the vision impaired. Our Club also recognizes the importance of youth in our community. We participate annually in a Peace Poster Contest, which encourages our middle-school age children to creatively express their concept of world peace. We award scholarships to high school graduates, based on their community involvement, scholastic achievements and other criteria.
On July 17th 2024 the Grand Island Lions Club
hosted its 66th annual Kids Special Picnic. Around 560 kids with
special needs and their aides were treated to a day of fun that included boat
rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting. and Lunch, that included hot
dogs, hamburgers and drinks. Clown volunteers worked the crowd while a DJ
encouraged the kids to participate in Karaoke. The Lions are thankful for all
the help from many areas, with the Buffalo Launch Club kindly donating their
grounds and personnel without which we would not be able to do this. There were
many donations; Tops Markets with drinks, Tim Hortons with coffee and
doughnuts for the volunteers, and from the community, including Troop 104 Boy
scouts, Rotary Club, and Lions from our sister club from Merritton Ontario.
Special thanks to the Erie County Sherriff’s department for sending deputies
and horses from their mounted reserve division to interact with the kids. Also,
special thanks to the many boat captains, donating their time and vessels,
including Excalibur Leisure Skills, Collins Marine, and the Niagara Frontier Antique and Classic
Boat Club to name a few. Finally, thanks to the businesses and
people who live and work in our community for their support on our White Cane
Days, Spaghetti Dinner, and other fundraisers. Without their continued support,
we would never be able to pay for this project.
The Grand Island Lions awarded the winners of this years (2024) Peace Poster Contest at our May 22nd dinner meeting. Lion Paul Bassette reviewed the theme, criteria for judging and the concept of the Peace poster contest through LCI guidelines. This year’s theme was “Dream of Peace”. We had 50 entries for the Peace Poster contest this year from Connor Middle School. Peace Poster winners are 2nd place Chloe Fraser, and 1st place Quinn Yarwood. The posters will be displayed at the GI Library for the next year. Next year’s theme will be “Peace without Limits”.
(Left to Right): Lion Paul Bassette, Peace Poster Chair, 2nd Place winner Chloe Fraser, 1st Place winner Quinn Yardwood and Grand Island Middle School Art Teacher Andrew (Drew) Dulak.
Helping the Neighbors Foundation
