Grand Forks Lions Club celebrates 100th anniversary

Jun. 24—GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks Lions Club members celebrated the club's 100th anniversary with a special dinner and awards presentation Wednesday, June 22, at the Opal Events Center.

It is the oldest service club in Grand Forks, said Connie Osowski, club president.

The Grand Forks Lions Club, one of four local Lions clubs, was chartered Feb. 9, 1922. Under the leadership of its first president, William G. Bek, the club started out with an initiative for vision-impaired people, with Helen Keller as a strong supporter of the organization.

All of the money raised by Lions clubs goes to projects, Osowski said. "All funds are donated to global and local charities."

The Grand Forks Lions Club, which has about 25 members, meets at noon Wednesdays in the VFW in East Grand Forks, said Steve Johnson, past district governor who's been a member of the Grand Forks Lions Club for nearly 30 years.

He also served as president a couple times, he said. And he's not alone.

"Almost everybody has been a president at one time or another," he said, "and I think there's probably a half-dozen of us that have been (president) at least twice."

He spoke to the Herald this week about the club reaching its 100th anniversary.

"It's one of those things you don't think much about until you're there," Johnson said. "I think you're more attuned and more focused on what's going on right now, and what you're doing currently, than harkening back to 100 years ago when the club first started.

"As you approach a milestone like this, though, you do pause and think back about it a little bit and recognize that you do need to celebrate — in this day and age when you say nothing is forever — that an organization that helps people is able to survive and stay active for a hundred years."

"Like a lot of others, we're a service club and our purpose is to help people," Johnson said. "Originally when it started out, it was kind of focused on the community and then over time, we became an international organization, so we not only help people in and around Grand Forks but the state of North Dakota, all over the county, and now all over the world. Some of our focuses are maybe as much internationally-focused as they are nationally."

Johnson attributes the longevity of the Grand Forks Lions Club to the allure of its purpose.

"I think people naturally want to help others, as we say, our motto is 'We serve.' I think when you get people together who feel good when they help others, a club perpetuates," he said.

The local Lions clubs may be best known for their annual drive-through Christmas displays at Lincoln Park. But they are involved in other fundraising projects as well.

Proceeds from those efforts have benefited groups or initiatives such as: BSA Drug Awareness, Girl Scouts, American Diabetes Association, North Dakota School for the Blind, Dakota Lions Sight and Health, Lions Park, Service Dogs for America, Lions Youth Camp, North Dakota Lions Foundation, Northlands Rescue Mission, North Country Food Bank, Sunshine House, Third Street Clinic, Salvation Army, Community Violence Intervention Center, food cupboards, Peace Poster Contest and Miss Grand Forks Scholarship Organization, among other local and global organizations.

Lions International is the largest service club organization in the world, with 1.4 million members serving globally to help take on some of the biggest challenges facing humanity.

"They say, 'where there's a need, there's a Lion,' " Johnson said.

The Lions Clubs International Foundation, the charitable arm of Lions Clubs International, was established in 1968. It provides grant funding to support the compassionate works of the Lions, empowering their service and addressing the needs of their communities both locally and globally.

Most of the members the local Lions clubs attract are people whom existing members know or meet in church or business settings, Johnson said.

"We are always looking for new members," Osowski said.

The other local Lions clubs are the South Forx Lions, the Red River Lions and the UND Lions.

For more information on the Grand Forks Lions Club, visit

https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/grandforsnd/index.php

.