Ephrata Lions like the friends they’ve made and service to community

EPHRATA — Ephrata Lions Club President Mark Wanke said the club offers its members two important advantages - Camaraderie among members and working for something bigger.

“You serve your community,” Wanke said.

Ephrata Lions member Don Gordon has been in for the long haul.

“I think I joined in 1973,” he said. “It’s getting close to 50 years.”

The Lions Club has been one of those things he kept doing because he liked it, Gordon said. The club doesn’t have as many members as it did in 1973, but for Gordon the Lions members and the club’s mission make it a good place to spend his time.

“I enjoy the friendships of those that are still there and I enjoy helping the community,” he said.

Like many service clubs, the local Lions support activities for children, from the annual fishing derby to the “Junior Jogger” program for elementary students to the art scholarship at Ephrata High School. There’s something for the little kids, too, with an Ephrata Lions-sponsored Christmastime dinner for kids and families in the local Head Start program, complete with presents.

Local Lions chapters also donate to the Lions International Foundation, which works to help people throughout the country and the world when there's a natural disaster.

The national and international Lions organizations are known for their programs to help the sight-impaired and hearing-impaired, and the Ephrata Lions raise money for, and awareness of, that work with the annual White Cane Day fundraiser.

“We also give glasses to people,” Gordon said.

The club sponsors the annual visit of the screening van sponsored by the Northwest Lions Foundation. When the screening van visits, Lions Foundation personnel administer sight and hearing tests to Ephrata School District students free of charge.

“That has been awesome,” Wanke said.

George Sisson, an Ephrata optometrist, wrote in response to an email that he initially was drawn to the Lions Club because of that emphasis on helping the visually impaired.

“I have stayed in Lions because I really enjoy helping others and the camaraderie of the other club members,” Sisson wrote.

Gordon said the Lions commitment to helping people with sight and hearing impairment dates back almost to the organization’s founding, and was the initiative of Helen Keller, deaf and blind as the result of childhood illness, who became an advocate for the disabled. Keller attended a Lions national convention in the 1920s and challenged the Lions to help those with sensory impairments, Gordon said.

Club members have built ramps at homes around Ephrata to help people with limited mobility. They donated money to help pay for flagpoles at the EHS soccer and softball fields. The Lions club worked on a project to add wheelchair-accessible ramps to city sidewalks. Lions members volunteered to work on the EHS baseball field during its construction.

Their focus is on projects that will contribute to the community, Wanke said.

The Ephrata Lions club operates the hamburger booth with the lion painted on the side each year during the Grant County Fair. The booth always does a brisk business.

“That’s our main fundraiser,” Wanke said.

The fishing derby is held each April and drew about 300 kids in 2021, Wanke said, along with their families. The art scholarship program was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in non-pandemic years it’s awarded during the annual EHS art show. The winner receives a $1,000 scholarship.

The Lions Club has been sponsoring the Junior Jogger program since the early 1990s, Wanke said. Elementary school students are encouraged to run or walk during recess and record their miles.

“They have to run so many miles and they get a shirt,” Wanke said.

Running additional miles qualifies kids for free entry into the road race that’s part of Sage and Sun, the annual town celebration. And kids who qualify by running a specified number of miles get a dinner from the Lions Club.

“By the end of the year, we’ve had kids do at least 200 miles,” Gordon said.

But the Lions have seen membership dwindle, a circumstance that’s affected other service organizations. The chapter is looking for new members, and people who want to join can contact any Lions officer. They’re listed in the club’s social media.

Gordon said it’s a rewarding experience, and he has almost 50 years in the Lions to prove it.

“Fellowship,” Gordon said when asked about the appeal of the Lions. “And getting out and doing something for the community that nobody else will.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.