By Leon Suseran
The Lions Club of New Amsterdam is observing its 50th Anniversary. The event was occasioned by a Charter Meeting at the Conference Room of the Parkway Hotel, recently. There was a one-minute’s silence for the peace of the world; an induction of new Lions; salute to monarchs and long-serving Lions as well as the feature address by the Lieutenant District Governor, Surujpaul Singh.
During the feature address, Mr Singh highlighted the important work the Club is doing in Berbice and Guyana as a whole. He said that the organization has come a long way since it was first introduced in Suriname in 1957 and “spread to Guyana before moving to Barbados and eventually to the entire multiple districts.”
The Lions Club of New Amsterdam is the second club to be chartered in Guyana, which is designated Region Two. There are now 19 Lions Clubs and three active Leo Clubs in this Region.
“The Lions Club of N/A has played an important social role in helping to provide care and comfort to the needy,” he reiterated.
Singh spoke of the vision care programme sponsored by the club. “Most do not know that you have exported these eye care equipment to Suriname,” he said. He noted that the Club now has four vision screening machines. Two of these machines will be handed over to the Lions of Guyana.
“I expect that one of these machines will be permanently located at the eye- clinic at the Lion’s Den in N/A.” Fellow Lions greeted this announcement with loud applause.
Singh also praised the work of the club in the field of education such as bursary awards, prizegiving, and training young women, school- leavers and young adults.
“Your contribution is a powerful signal to these children that people care about them; you have the power to motivate, to mentor and guide in ways that civil servant and politicians cannot emulate”, he posited.
The club, he says, also benefits from Lion’s Club International Foundation (LCIF) of almost 1.4 million Lions worldwide. Lions should be proud of the impact they make on the world stage, he added.
The LCIF Fund, he said, has calculated that it can help a child from going blind with just US$6. “LCIF has completed over five million cataract surgeries in the Sight First China Action Plan,” he noted.
LCIF continues to build houses for homeless people in Haiti following the Haitian earthquake a few years ago. “Lions are in the forefront of the battle against river blindness in Africa and parts of South America, and are winning that battle.
“You will know that another crusade taken up by Lions of the world is the fight to eradicate measles,” he told the gathering.
The Club has vaccinated 41 million children in four countries this year alone. He boasted, “Now we must expand these efforts to reach more children in more countries. And this is now possible, thanks to commitment of our partner, the [Bill] Gates Foundation, which is giving our organization US$5 for the programme this year, the largest single donor in our history,” he noted.
The foundation, he said, will match every US$2 that the local club raises here with US$1. “We have set a combined goal of providing US$15 million to this initiative,” he said.
International Presidents’ Funds for Lions of the World have also planned to plant one million trees on the planet in 2011.
“This target has already been surpassed and we are just warming up to this exercise. We are not alone in that. As of today, less than four months into the fiscal year, Lions of the world have planted 2.9 million trees”, he said.
During the Charter Night Meeting, those Lions who were honoured for outstanding membership and years of service to the club were, Lions Jennifer Conway (15 years of service), Leila Clarke-Daniels (20 years); Pamela Simon (20 years); Pansy Shivmangal (20 years); Clifford Johnson (25 years); Winston Henry (30 years); Marlyn LaRose (15 years) and Ramesh Maraj (40 years of service).
They received the traditional toast with champagne and three roars from their colleagues.
There was also an induction ceremony for three new Lions— Yvette Kertzious, Malinda Lewis and Sabrina Grant.
President of the N/A Lions Club, Lt T. Lewis and Lt Surujpaul Singh participated in the traditional cutting of the 50th anniversary cake.