Lions Club eager for new volunteers as its membership shrinks

ASHEBORO — With a mission to serve the community and district, the Asheboro Lions Club could use some help.

The 82-year-old civic organization, as well as Lions Club International, has the primary focus of fighting blindness and helping the visually impaired. But the vision of the local club has expanded over the years to other activities such as helping support the Lions Cottage at the Boys & Girls Home at Lake Waccamaw, NC. 

Whatever the need, the Lions need money as well as volunteers. That means more members.

Carle Hall, president of the Asheboro Lions Club, said the local organization was chartered in March 1944 with 51 members. Today, the number is down to 10.

“Anybody who’s interested can come to a meeting and see what we do and see if they want to join,” Hall said. 

The club meets the first Tuesday of each month at CJ’s Olde Towne Restaurant on White Oak Street. Meetings begin at 6 p.m., often with speakers discussing various topics such as diabetes, leader-guide dog Hunger, and childhood cancer, for instance.

“I’m the district chair for the Lake Waccamaw home,” he said, adding that the Lions Cottage is home for a maximum of seven boys who live there until they graduate from high school. Most have come to Lake Waccamaw through the court system and Department of Social Services, removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. 

As district chair, Hall often speaks to other clubs about Lake Waccamaw and how it helps boys and girls become successful in life.

The founding of the Lions Club occurred in 1917 and is credited to Melvin Jones of Illinois.

Lions International has grown to 1.4 million members, one of the world’s largest civic organizations.

With the simple motto of “We serve,” the Lions focus on the blind is said to have been inspired by none other than Helen Keller, who was born both blind and deaf but learned to communicate through speech.

In 1925, Keller spoke to the Lions Club International convention and asked the men to “imagine what it’s like to stumble around in the dark. I appeal to you, Lions, you who have your sight, your hearing, you who are strong and brave and kind. Will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in my crusade against darkness?”

The resounding answer was “Yes.”

Speaking for the Asheboro club, Hall said, “We have done many good things for the community besides sight and hearing.”

As for the main focus, Asheboro Lions help the needy buy eyeglasses and recycle old glasses as well as used hearing aids. Collection boxes are at Walmart, Nova Eye Care and Walker Eye Care. The club also collects old cell phones for recycling.

The local Lions also pay for blind persons to attend the week-long Camp Dogwood at Sherrills Ford, NC, near Lake Norman. They also conduct Kid Sight Eye screening at the five Asheboro elementary schools.

The Lions raise funds by selling peanuts and with the sale of brooms at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on South Fayetteville Street. 

The Asheboro Lions Club has served the community in a host of activities during its 82 years. For instance, in 1944-45, the members raised $4,021 for the Hickory Polio Hospital, contributed to the maintenance of the school cafeteria and sponsored a chapter of the Open Road Pioneers, a boys club.

Over the years, Asheboro Lions have supported high school athletics, Randolph Hospital, construction of the Donna Lee Loflin cafeteria as well as furnishing the Asheboro High School principal’s office. Lions members have fitted persons with eyeglasses and transported eye patients to the hospital for surgery and checkups.

According to a history of the Asheboro Lions Club, “The humanitarian services which the members of the Asheboro Lions Club have provided over this (82 years), if enumerated separately, would indeed fill books.”

Asked to give an example of what stuck out in his mind, Hall said the president of the Lake Waccamaw home told him and his wife Delores of a boy who graduated during the past year and was accepted at Livingstone College 

in Salisbury. “The other six boys in the Lions Cottage went with him to support him when he was enrolling. Hearing that brought a tear to my eye.”

Anyone interested in learning more about the Asheboro Lions Club can call Carle Hall at 336-953-1627 or Tal Hardin at 336-465-7313.