The new Churchville Lions Club President Joe DeLeo said he expects a great turnout for the country fair next weekend. "It’s been a growing event every year," he said. "The way we do our event must be the right way."

DeLeo said the way the Lions Club takes on every cause in the community is the right way. When he joined the club in 1994 DeLeo said, "I wanted to do something to help the community. I didn’t know much about the Lions until after I joined, but I understood the club raised money to help other people in need."

Moving up the ranks in the club, DeLeo served several years on the board of directors of the club, as a secretary, vice-president, and now president. "I get involved in everything," he said.
Born and raised in the City of Rochester, DeLeo moved to Washington Street in Churchville with his family 15 years ago. He and his wife, Marsha, to whom he said he owes a special thank you for her support of his involvement with the club, have two children and three grandchildren. "We hope to have (the grandchildren) over to the house next weekend for the parade, at least," he said.

Getting involved with the community and meeting new people at every event, has been one of the most satisfying parts of being a Lion, DeLeo said. Echoing the sentiment of many in his club, DeLeo said simply "I am proud to be a Lion."

The Lions Club International began as the dream of a Chicago businessman, Melvin Jones. "He believed that local business clubs should expand their horizons from purely professional concerns to the betterment of their communities and the world at large," according to the organization’s web site.

In 1917 a group of like-minded businessmen met in a hotel, adopted the name the "Association of Lions Clubs" and wrote the new club’s by-laws and objectives including: "No club shall hold out the financial betterment of its members as its object." This has remained a basic objective of the club to this day.

In 1925, Helen Keller addressed the club at its convention in Ohio, where she challenged its members to become "the knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness." Since then, the Lions Club has been working to defeat blindness.

"In 1990, the Lions Club launched its most aggressive sight preservation effort to date, SightFirst. The more than $140-plus million program strives to rid the world of preventable and reversible blindness by closing the gap between existing health care services and those that remain desperately needed," according to the Lions Club.

In addition to collecting dues and raising money to support the initiatives of the international organization, local chapters raise funds to be used in their own communities. The Lions Club collects used eyeglasses which are shipped to third world countries to be passed out through medical missionaries.

The Churchville chapter contracts with Lens Crafters to deliver on the goal of getting anyone, anywhere, new eyeglasses if they are in need. The local club also runs a medical loan closet out of the Riga Town Highway Garage, where crutches, wheelchairs, and other costly items like hospital beds, can be loaned out to those in the community in need.

The Churchville Lions Club sponsors local Boy Scout Troop 113 and Girl Scout Troop 638. It assists the Boy Scouts in collecting food and storing it for a food pantry, and during the holidays sends out 25 to 30 food baskets to families in need.

Lions look for needs in the community they can fill, such as purchasing equipment for the Churchville Volunteer Fire Department. If a family in the village suffers a loss, such as a house fire, the Lions Club will be there to help with food, or clothing.

Youth outreach is another important goal, and club chapters sponsor "Leo Clubs" to help youth ages 12-28 to perform their own community service projects. The club fosters community spirit through programs like the children’s Halloween Costume Parade through the village every year. The event concludes with a party in Churchville Park with plenty of treats for all.

The Country Fair is one of the club’s major fund raisers, along with the yearly light bulb sale and calendar drive. In addition to money raised at the food booths at the fair, the $10,000 cash giveaway raises money that will go right back into the community.

DeLeo would encourage everyone to purchase a $25 ticket at the fair. You could consider the money a donation to a good cause—and if you walk away a $1,000 winner, it will just be a bonus!