The Aberdeen Lions are well known in the community for their active involvement in various events, including the establishment of the original “Lions Park Little League Field” and ongoing sponsorship of the Lions Little League team.
They also played a pivotal role in the design and construction of the seating area at the Driftwood Theater.
Since the inception of Habitat for Humanity in Grays Harbor, the Aberdeen Lions have contributed significantly by providing funding for two new homes and facilitating member participation in the construction of many homes built by the organization. Additionally, the Aberdeen Lions proudly celebrate over fifty years of recycling magazines and newspapers as a key fundraising initiative. Our new paper drop-off location is conveniently located across from Duffy’s Restaurant and Jodesha Broadcasting on Simpson Avenue (the yellow building).
The Aberdeen Lions support HARBOUR YOUTH ACTIVITIES through collaborations with local organizations, including the Y.M.C.A. Strong Youth Program, after-school programs facilitated by the SALVATION ARMY, summer camp scholarships to “Camp Leo,” and sponsorship of an “Aberdeen Lions Little League Team.”
ABERDEEN LIONS is a “Hands On Club” that participates in work parties “Painting the Corridor”, providing clean-up for the Lady Washington “Seaport Museum”, and most notably for our “BICYCLES from HEAVEN” project.
This project involves collecting surplus and abandoned bicycles from families, police departments, and other sources. Lions members transport them to the Stafford Creek facility where inmates in a training program learn to rebuild, restore, and safety-check bicycles, making them safe for riding. In the past nine years, the club has distributed over 3,500 bicycles in this program.
In 1917, at the height of World War One, a group of Chicago businessmen, inspired by founding member Melvin Jones’ motto, “You can’t do anything until you’ve helped someone”, organized the first Lions Club. The organization spread throughout the country and has grown to become the largest N.G.O. (non-governmental organization) in the world with 1.4 million members in over 200 countries.
At the 1925 Lions convention Lions were challenged by Helen Keller to become the “Knights of the Blind in the Crusade Against Darkness”. Since that year, the Lions have become popularly known as, “the glasses people”. On the first weekend in May, Lions around the world can be seen offering “White Cane” badges as symbols of support for eye care programs including research and treatment of diabetes, now the leading cause of blindness worldwide.
May 21, 1940
Sponsored by the Olympia Lions, and beginning with 23 charter members, the Lions Club International charters the Aberdeen Lions Club.
December 3, 1941
The Hoquiam Lions Club is chartered (becoming the county’s second club). It was sponsored by the Aberdeen Lions.
1947-1966
Clubs are chartered in Central Park, Quinault, Cosmopolis, Raymond, Westport, and Ocean Shores
The Northwest Lions Foundation sponsors a Mobile Health Screening Unit that travels throughout the region, offering professional diagnosis of conditions related to health, sight, and hearing.
This unit provides health screenings at the Grays Harbor County Fair, in the Ocean Shores area, and at the Summit Pacific Health Fair.
Lions Club International Foundation is funded by donations from individual clubs. The LCIF directs large sums of money to hurricane/flood/tornado relief and to food and health aid in Third World countries.
Local Lions Clubs honor outstanding members by presenting Melvin Jones Awards (named after the founder) which direct the club to donate $1000 to these international relief efforts. Funds may also return to local communities as in the case of a significant donation that was made to Grays Harbor Habitat for Humanity.
The LCIF made a large Disaster Relief Grant to the Oso Community to assist with disaster relief after the Oso Landslide. Later another Disaster Relief Grant was granted to Okanogan County to provide that area with disaster relief for Fire and Mud Slide damage from the summer fires and rainstorms. And most recently, LCIF has made contributions to the disaster relief after the devastating fire in Lahaina, Maui.
78 WA-115, Ocean Shores, WA 98569