For Immediate Release – Easton, MA
Melvin Jones Fellowships
At our Installation Ceremonies on June 14th, we had the honor of recognizing two Lions members, Ken Love and Mark Ingalls, as our latest Melvin Jones Fellowship recipients. Ken and Mark have both been Board members for many years, Ken Love as Treasurer and Mark Ingalls as or Dues Treasurer. Both gentlemen have been involved not only in our club events and activities, but also many other groups in our community. The Melvin Jones Fellowship was established in 1973 in response to Lions’ requests for a way to extend their commitment to Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) and to honor Melvin Jones, one of it’s founder. A donation made, in the name of the Easton Lions Club to the Lions Clubs International Foundation in the amount of $1000- will benefit the recognition of the individual. LCIF/Fellowship donations are largely responsible for the successful launching the Lions’ aggressive global attack on preventable and curable blindness—the LCIF Sight First programs.
Lion of the Year – Gus Arns
Our club works because we have a mix of old-timers with know-how, members who make our events fun, and younger members with lots of energy. There is one member that I feel fills all these attributes. This Lion has been with us for more than 15 years. Is multi-talented, has a love for animals, be it dogs, cats, or turkeys, has the strength of an ox, plays a mean trombone, has organized and co-chaired our annual Rein-Dog Parade for, I think, at least 14 years and has been a fixture at the Thrift Store since I can remember. No matter what comes his way, Gus Arns always has a “we can get this done” attitude. At the Thrift, he always shows up from set-up to take-down and makes sure things get to where they need to be. He’s also great chatting with customers, as he always has a story to tell. I’d also like to Thank Nancy for letting us have Gus along for the ride. Thank you, Gus, for your service to our Club and the community. As an added token of my appreciation, I’d also like to honor Gus with a Lions Clubs Centennial Commemorative silver dollar proof coin. This coin has a picture of Melvin Jones and the Lions Clubs logo on the front and a family of lions with a globe behind them on the back-side.
Rookie of the Year – Andrew Parker
So many of our new members have been active this year it was a challenge to just pick 1 rookie. But there is one Lion that I felt went above and beyond this year. Even before becoming a Lion, you’d see him with Kevin McIntyre helping-out at the Thrift Store. In October, he became a regular fixture at set-up and take-down, lugging the heavy stuff always with a smile on his face. He was also a huge help Auction weekend and especially efficient at getting the thank you letters out in short order. Most of all, he’s become our voice on Twitter, sharing our six-word stories and promoting our events as they happen. Since taking over in December we’ve averaged from 3 to 7,000 impressions per month and have over 550 followers. With all that, I’d like to thank Andrew Parker for his work both as a Lion and a fellow alternative track Librarian. To help keep the twitter feed fed, I also found a thrift store treasure for Andrew. The book titled “The Tao of Pooh” which explores the principles of philosophical Taoism.
Lions Family of the Year: The Mallers
John, Tammy, Julie, J.C., and Jared
Almost weekly, you can find John Mallers driving down Main Street with his truck loaded to the brim going to the Thrift Store. Along with him you’ll almost always find 1 or 2 other Mallers along for the ride, most likely Jared or J.C. ready to move the heavy stuff in. On the weekdays, and some Saturdays, you’ll find his daughter Julie helping Ruthy to get the 2nd-floor ready for customers. You’ll also find them at our many events helping move tables and set-up equipment for the day. His wife Tammy is always on call, especially for those big house clean-outs and most importantly, Tammy supplies us with the delicious coffee cake at our auction each year. For these reasons, I want to thank John and his family for being a part of our Lions family.
New Members
On June 7th we added two final members for the 2016-2017 year to push us over 30 new members for the year. We are proud to announce and welcome new members David Williams and Smeeta Teckchandani.
