This past December, Grove City Lions Club celebrated its 85th anniversary, recognizing several decades of commitment to community service and many significant accomplishments. Founded in 1939, just 22 years after the founding of the Association of Lions Clubs, the Grove City chapter had much to commemorate.
Major milestones
Stu Koble
Over the years, the Grove City Lions Club has helped the community in many ways.
In its early days, the Club built a shelter house at Windsor Park and constructed playground equipment at the park on Kingston Avenue in 1954. Some of the Club’s earliest forms of fundraising included selling light bulbs and brooms made by the blind, and selling oranges and grapefruits before Christmas.
In more recent years, the Club has helped the Jackson Township Fire Department purchase equipment and added playground equipment for the blind at Windsor Park.
“Thanks to the support of the Grove City community, we have been able to make over $10,000 in total donations to local organizations and individuals,” Lions Club President Stu Koble says.
Stu Koble
The Grove City chapter also occasionally partners with other, nearby Lions Clubs and organizations to help those in need.
In February of 2023, the Club helped fund disaster relief for those affected by the tornado that hit Pickaway County. The Club has also been part of a partnership for three years that donates Christmas care kits and Lego boxes to children in pediatric cancer wards.
“We spend a lot of community hours helping many, many people,” Koble says.
Recent and current initiatives
Stu Koble
According to Koble, the Club has five primary areas of focus that help guide its work. Those areas of focus include: vision, diabetes, pediatric cancer, environment and hunger.
“Helen Keller spoke at one of (the Lions) conventions in 1925,” Koble says. “She was an early member and was kind of the initiator of us serving and helping the blind and visually impaired.”
One of the ongoing projects the Club runs to assist those with impaired vision includes leaving eyeglass drop boxes around the community in public gathering spaces, such as the library. People can drop old or broken eyeglasses in the boxes, which then get repaired and donated to people in need.
The Club also repurposes donated glasses cases into mini care kits for the unhoused.
While vision is one of the Lions Club’s main focuses, there are plenty of other ongoing and recurring initiatives to which the Club contributes.
For example, the Club is well-known for sponsoring and supporting Grove City Little League Baseball and the Grove City Food Pantry, grilling bologna sandwiches at Arts in the Alley and flipping flapjacks at its annual pancake breakfast.
These events sometimes support more than one initiative. For example, the 2024 pancake breakfast served more than 200 guests and kids received free vision screenings as well as pictures with Santa, with the proceeds going to the nonprofit Pilot Dogs.
Additionally, the Club has contributed to environmental initiatives, including a special project in which members plant a tree in a local park alongside a memorial plaque when a Lion passes away.
This benefits the environment as well as honors the member’s life and service. The Club has adopted roads as well, and members clean up litter once a month.
During the last year, the Club also participated in community events such as Arts in the Alley, Boo Off Broadway and the City’s back-to-school KidsFest where backpacks full of school supplies are given away.
More recently, the Club embraced the holiday spirit of giving by baking more than 100 dozen cookies for veteran Christmas packages and volunteering at the Traditions Independent Living center’s annual Christmas dinner. In January, the Club collected coats, hats, gloves, socks, blankets and toiletries for those in need during the cold winter months.
Stu Koble
Stu Koble
Stu Koble
Stu Koble
Looking forward
As a non-profit organization, the Grove City Lions Club donates all of its event proceeds to multiple charities. In the past, the Club has donated to more than 30 charities, ranging from local entities such as the Grove City High School Choir and Navy ROTC programs, to larger organizations such as Ohio School for the Blind and Central Ohio Diabetes Association.
While the Club is proud of all its accomplishments and those it has helped, it is hoping to increase its reach.
“Growing our membership is essential for realizing our community service and continuing our quest to help those in need,” Koble says. “New members inspire our club with new energy and ideas while providing the next generation of Lion leadership.”
According to Koble, the Club has been working to make its service and donations more visible in the community in order to spark more interest in younger people to join the ranks. By sharing why he values being a Lion so much, Koble hopes to encourage others to become members too.
“The camaraderie, the friendships I’ve developed … and (helping those who are in need) has given me a lot of gratification and life satisfaction,” Koble says. “The Lions have given me an avenue from which to do that.”
Cheers!
Stu Koble
The Club celebrated its anniversary during its 2024 Christmas party.
Held at the Eagle Pavilion at Rotary Lake, the party welcomed more than 65 attendees as well as several guest speakers, including Grove City Mayor Richard “Ike” Stage.
During the party, Stage issued the Club a special proclamation for being the oldest service club in Grove City. As a nod to his 57 years of membership, longtime Lion B.J. Roach accepted the proclamation on behalf of the club.
Stu Koble
Also attending the celebration were the Club’s District Governor Toni Gray, 1st Vice District Governor Dr. Carl Gass and Council Chair Mike Kerek, who each gave a short presentation on the Club’s achievements.
“We’re very proud of the fact we were actually joined by our noon club as well,” Koble says. “There is no other Lions Club in our district of 50 clubs that has two clubs combined.”
With the two clubs combined, the Grove City chapter consists of a total of 88 members.
The Club used its anniversary celebration as an opportunity to collect donations of new underwear for children, which were donated to the Purple Door Free Store at Grove City Methodist Church.
Scan this QR code to learn more about Grove City Lions Club!
Ella Jay is an assistant editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at ejay@cityscenemediagroup.com.
