MARY RIVER LIONS CLUB HISTORY
Origin of Club
On 7 July, 1986 , Maryborough Lions Club realized the potential for the establishment of another Lions Club in the city and called a meeting of 15 prospective members. This group of men moved that a new Lions Club, called Maryborough Mary River Lions Club, be incorporated on inception with a projected date for Charter on 29 November, 1986 . The new club would be under the supervision of Guiding Lion, Col Hass, from the Maryborough Lions Club.
A steady growth in members saw a total of 26 men watch Terry Zillman, the first Club President, receive the Charter after the ceremony performed by the then District Governor, Len Stooke, (Some years later, P.D.G. Len was later to become a member of our Club.)
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At first, the Club continued to enjoy a steady growth in membership, even reaching a total of 30, but like all Clubs, actual effective members was in the mid twenties for most of the time. In 1993, there was a definite decline through transfers, change of business, other commitments as well as ill health. In 1996, with the death of one Charter Member, the Club had an effective membership of 13, with six of these being Charter Members. Late in 2003, we held a membership drive and increased our number by inducting six new members.
Today, we boast 17 active members of which five are original Charter Members and seven are women. The first Lady Lion in our Club was Jean Taylor. Lion Jean was a transferee from Tiaro Lions Club in 1996 and she has the honour of being the first lady President in the now Q4 as well as Guiding Lion for the present Glenwood Lions Club (formerly Gunalda Lions Club).
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Lionism
We are fortunate to have members who have attended every District Convention and almost all National Conventions (naturally time, distance and finances control the capacity for attendance at these). Our transferees in from the Gulf Country, Brian and Brenda Kruske, have attended an International Convention.
Since charter, eight of our members have served on Cabinet in various capacities and seven have received Key Membership awards. Lion Brian Kruske has been granted a Melvin Jones Award and Lion Brian Hodges has been granted the James D. Richardson and “Lion of the Year” Awards.
Our morale took a huge boost in 1989 when we were named “Club of the Year” for “All round Performance”.
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Projects/Finances
Over the years we have many and varied ways to earn monies for the Club, Our first fundraiser was to conduct a Goose Club and when that avenue of income was closed to us, we conducted “Wheels” at another two city hotels but declining patronage made these uneconomical. For quite a number of years we were employed by the Maryborough Speedway to service their canteen by the making and selling of hot food during their “meets” but unfortunately we lost this regular income when they decided to accept a tender from the Scouting organization.
We now earn our money in an even harder way by holding sausage sizzles at a market once a month and outside a local business on a Sunday morning.
At the present moment, we are loading and unloading equipment into or onto vehicles for each sizzle, but we'll soon have that under control as one intelligent and diligent member, Lion Graham Schofield, has designed and nearly completed a B.B.Q. trailer that has everything our hearts desire – all in one place – no more lifting – just hook it on and we are in business. Hopefully, with the completion of this trailer, we can get bookings for larger revenue earnings.
Christmas Cakes have always proved a good source of income as well as being an excellent project to assist the aged or other charities by way of donations.
Since 1990, the Club has donated each year, enough large cakes to the Cake Icing Guild to supply each elderly recipient of Meals on Wheels with a small iced Christmas cake. This year, we also supplied two large cakes to Village Life residents and the past two years, have not only supplied the residents of Fairhaven Aged Care Independent units with a serving of our delicious cake (in the guise of plum pudding) but also treated them to a sit-down Christmas B.B.Q .luncheon with all the trimmings.
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During the Drought Appeal (early ninety's) we provided several cartons of cakes the Christmas Packs to the Outback. We also find they come in handy for Lucky Door prizes at our Tombolas, dances or filling in our Christmas Stocking Raffle which we hold annually.
Through the generosity of our local Woolworths store, our Christmas Stocking Raffle is usually very successful and each year a suitable charity is named to be the beneficiary of part of the proceeds. This year it is the Coast Guard.
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One ongoing project was the purchase of a Heart Walker for our Cerebral Palsy child, Sophie Mann. It is still an ongoing cost for the next three years but it will be worth the effort when we can finally see Sophie enjoy a little freedom that normal children can take for granted. Unfortunately, there are still more operations to be undergone again before she has that complete joy. In the meantime, during herperiod of confinement to the Wheel Chair, the Club assisted with the purchase of a motorized one.
No matter how much we do raise, there never seems to be enough to go around as there is always some worthwhile project that is placed before us and at the end of each financial year, any funds remaining are always dispersed.
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Hands on Projects
Not all of our projects involve the giving of money but supplying manpower.
Our first hands-on project was the delivery of drums of off-cuts of wood to Senior Citizens who still used fuel burning stoves. Over the years we have cleaned up the banks of the Mary River , developed a park land and planted some seventy trees along the Maroom foreshore. The Heart Foundation approached to Club to undertake to make our various measured Distance Walks in Anzac Park .
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We have taken up paint brushes to assist the Tiaro Lions to paint the community hall at Antigua , Painting the local Guide Hall was done with other clubs and assistance given to install changing rooms and toilets for the young ladies. In 1987, when the Bundaberg Air Ambulance crashed, we walked the streets with buckets to collect for equipment replacement.
Driver Reviver is supported by all Lions Clubs in the Fraser Coast area and our club members give freely of their time to this excellent concept and thoroughly enjoy their three hour rostered stints. Members are marshals for the yearly “Technology Challenge” which is becoming a must on the Queensland Education calendar. Unfortunately, the “Blue Light Disco” is no longer conducted hence our supervisory abilities are getting rusty.
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Youth
Youth of the Year is undertaken each year by the club. These evenings are enjoyed by all who attend and it is surprising the brilliance of the entrants. We have been successful in having one entrant reach State Finals and three who have made it to the District Finals.
Youth Exchange has been undertaken on a grand scale by Bill and Jean Taylor who have just recently hosted their thirty-fifth exchange student. Another family recently hosted two American students. Unfortunately, we have only been able to send one exchange student out of Australia , and she went to New Zealand .
Victims of Chernobyl disaster resulted in the Hodges family hosting two young girls and then hosting another the following year. Members followed by this with donations from business houses and private people forwarding them to Russia where uncontaminated food and medical supplies were badly needed.
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Identikid program was another youth project that was well received in Maryborough with over 500 children having identification cards printed for their children should they go missing or involved in accidents.
A set of Scan dolls (Anatomically correct) were purchased and given to the local police to help them in the unenviable job of interviewing children who had been sexually abused.
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Miss Personality Quest
Altogether the club has had seven Miss Personality Entrants to date and we are proud to say that after a period of a few years, we have another young girl, Kylie Casperson, who has fronted up to assist in this very worthy cause. So far to date, the Club through this quest has raised over $80 000 and Kylie and her very supportive family is working hard to boost that total even harder.
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Health Services
Health services are always high on our list as we have Health Workers who approach us when their equipment is wanting. Some of the unusual equipment we have supplied are a Hematron and Micro Cuvettes for the Blood Bank, equipment for public screening and education for the Diabetic Association, nebuliser and Communicator Board for the Asthma Foundation, two Oldsway beds and a Blood Warmer. Many other health services have also received our assistance.
Social
Social Activities play a large part of being a Lion and over the years it has been a very active an fulfilling period for all our members, but the most important thing to always keep in mind is the motto ' WE SERVE'.
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Funding
The Club would like to acknowledge the funding made to them by the Queensland Government through their Gambling Community Benefit Fund for the purchase of our Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz System Computer with our multifunction machine and laser printer and Sharp 151 Photocopier. This is enabling our Club to keep up with the Technology that Lions is moving into in the coming months and has enabled us to also join with the website for all up and coming reports, events, etc.
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