Commencing at 11.30am for 12pm start, the celebration will include a buffet luncheon at a cost of $25 per person in the nearby Rutherglen Senior Citizen’s clubrooms.
The organising committee members are excited to acknowledge this significant milestone in the history of the Rutherglen Lions Club.
“We have invited as many past members of the club as we could track down and hope to have up to 75 past members as well as members of Lions District Cabinet and past District Governors attending,” club president Betty Potter told The Free Press.
“We have also invited representatives from the Lions clubs in our area. Our special guests will be inaugural charter members and the wives of the original executive committee.”
Rutherglen Lions Club currently has 11 members who have provided a total of 244 years of voluntary service to the local community.
Some have been members for more than 20 years while Ken Good has been a member of Lions for 54 years and Ian Stones for 50 years.
To acknowledge the contribution of many past members, the club will display a ‘story board’ with photos and a brief write-up of their achievements.
“This function is to celebrate past successes of the Rutherglen Lions Club and to encourage new members to join us in serving our community,” the president said.
When Lions the world over earn money from their activities the money must be returned to their communities and to disasters both locally, nationally and internationally, of which Rutherglen Lions have responded to continually.
Over the last few years $4000 per year has gone to our local schools to be used for disadvantaged children.
Disadvantaged children have been supported by payment for their attendance at Portsea Lord Mayor’s Camp and up until Covid, at the Licola wilderness camp.
Money has been given to the kindergarten for safety vests for every child, when they are outside the kinder playground. Children have received books to help their learning.
Other donations for young people have been various sporting equipment including cricket nets, and money for Scout activities and Jamborees. Rutherglen High School has been assisted with money for musical instruments, and previously Little Athletics and sponsorship of Corowa/Rutherglen Hockey Club.
The elderly have also been assisted with a Princess Wheelchair and Interactive Light Show for residents living in Rutherglen’s Residential Aged Care facility (Glenview).
Rutherglen RSL Club’s Legacy division has also been supported up until Covid by cooking for the Anzac Day Breakfast, with $400 to $500 per year donated from profit accumulated from the breakfasts.
Rutherglen Lions auspiced the fundraising of monies for a second Wildfire Tanker, a great asset for the Rutherglen Fire Station.
Since the conception of the Rutherglen Rumble, through Lions, a great deal of money has been allocated to Gateway Health for Mental Health in the community, and to support residents after the 2020 floods that devastated many homes and properties.
“We are also very pleased to be the managers of Rutherglen Monthly market and grateful that you all have a hand in helping those less fortunate than ourselves by donating to those in need,” was a message conveyed by Lions Treasurer/Welfare Officer Julie Simpson.
But numbers are declining in the Rutherglen Lions Club. “Can you imagine what life would be like without the Lions club in Rutherglen?” asked town identity Mel Field in a recent address to club members. “I can’t. There would be no monthly market, no community garage sale.”
Prior to her and her husband’s butchery, Mel was a teacher at St Mary’s and has recently stepped down, after 12 years, as a group leader of the 1st Rutherglen Scout Group.
She said volunteering is “so rewarding, an opportunity for you to give to others, it helps you to give back to the community”.
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time, they have the heart,” Mel concluded.
