CALL TO ORDER—Cole Cushman sits in front of a Lions International branded bell.

Bering Sea Lions Club serving Nome since the 1960s

On a Thursday evening last week, a dozen people in bright yellow vests filed into the Fire Hall building on Bering Street. It was volunteers for the Bering Sea Lions Club, the Nome branch of an international organization known for their dedication to small town, hyper local community service.
The Lions International Foundation was founded in 1917 as a response to “social problems created by World War I and rapid industrialization,” according to the Foundation’s website. It was founded in Chicago but was international by 1920. Today, there are 49,000 clubs and more than 1.4 million members worldwide. Nome’s chapter has been around since the 1960s.
“Membership in a Lion’s Club is by invitation only, and with a focus on individuals that want to give back to the community and are of good or sound efforts and morals,” said Kevin Knowlton, who has been in the Bering Sea Lion’s Club since 2000.
The Lions meetings open with a special Lions prayer, and then use Robert’s Rules of Order to plan out various projects they’re working on around town. During the meeting this reporter attended, the Lions updated each other on scholarship recipients, planned the Nome-Golovin snow machine race and a roast dinner at the Fireman’s carnival, and debated whether to give money to an eighth grade Washington D.C. trip.
“I don’t consider us a checkbook club,” said Knowlton. “We will write a check if people need money. But if there’s a project where we can roll our sleeves up and help them raise money, or if they need something built, we try to do those type of projects.”
In 1925, Helen Keller went to the Lion’s convention in Chicago and asked them to become the “knights of the blind.” Ever since then, the foundations have been focused on eliminating curable blindness.
The Bering Sea chapter does this with their eyeglass program, and now they help with testing and doing eye glass exams, according to Knowlton. (Dr. Truong Phan, the owner of Bering See Vision, is a member.) But they focus on community service more broadly as well.
“Any money we raise that comes from the public has to go back to the public,” Knowlton explained. This is part of the charter of Lions Club International. Money to run the club comes from club members themselves.
The Club has a gaming permit, so they can do raffles. Money from that must go back to the community, but it has additional restrictions under state law: that money has to stay in Alaska.
“We do a lot of scholarships, We put on a lot of big events,” said Cole Cushman. He said that the Lions Club doesn’t make any money from the Nome-Golovin snow machine race, but it helps local businesses. “It’s bringing in people, it brings recognition to the area,” he said.
The club has some members who have been around for decades—Joy Baker has been a Lion since 1991—but it is also trying to grow. The international organization is trying to grow finally reach 1.5 million members after years of stagnation.
The Bering Sea club stagnated ten years back, with the same four to five people showing up meeting after meeting, but now it’s growing again. At the meeting this reporter attended, one Lion brought three application forms, and there was a cardboard box filled with extra uniforms off to the side.
The Lions are recognizable around town in their bright purple and yellow vests. On the prominently displayed logo, one lion faces left, and the other faces right. They are designed to inspire their human namesakes to look both back at the past and forward towards the future.

 

The Nome Nugget

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USA

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