Lions Club lends a helping hand in Darlington
Members of the Darlington Lions Club: Frank Cole, George Chace, Robert Bridgers, Jeannie Harris, Billy Flowers, John Tyner and Mike Beckham
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Ask any member of the Darlington Lions Club to tell you what the mission of their organization is and they’ll tell you, with a smile, that they serve others. Though their number is small, their passion for what they do is great.
“Our motto is ‘We Serve’,” said club member Frank Cole. “We are strictly a service organization; we are not a civic, fraternal or social organization. We are here to serve the community, all the way to international. There is no project that is off-limits to us. We are not looking for notoriety. Nobody here wants a bunch of credit; that’s not what we do this for.”
Mike Beckham said that the original Lions Club was inspired by Helen Keller.
“The Lions Club was officially started by Melvin Jones, a businessman in Chicago,” Beckham said. “He just wanted to find a way to help those who are visually impaired. He got a bunch of businessmen together and they just started kicking the bucket.”
The group of businessmen eventually developed the service organization’s platform.
“They came up with the idea to start an organization to help those who can’t afford to get eye exams or afford to get glasses,” Beckham said. “From there is just mushroomed. This club right here in Darlington, along with many others, we try to give sight back to those who need it. We also do hearing aid conservation.”
Collection boxes around the community offer people outside of the Lions Club an opportunity to make a difference.
“We ask people instead of throwing their old glasses in the trash to donate them,” Beckham said. “We try to educate people that the glasses they may not use anymore can be used by someone somewhere around the world.”
Glasses that cannot be used for one reason or another are taken to the Lions Recycling Center in Roanoke Virginia.
George Chace said that the Darlington club makes a worldwide impact with the donated glasses.
“We get the majority of the glasses that are collected in South Carolina at the moment,” Chace said. “We read the prescription in all the glasses and label and categorize them accordingly. Then we use them in Mozambique.”
The glasses travel to Mozambique because of different ophthalmology regulations in the United States.
“We are qualified to fit people for eyeglasses,” Chace said. “We don’t have the certification, so we cannot legally do that in the United States; we don’t attempt to do that in any way.”
Thousands of glasses have been distributed over the years. Though they cannot fit people locally, they are able to help with the cost of glasses when people come to them.
“We have people in this area, if they come to Mike and Frank for help, they get glasses for them at a discount,” said Robert Bridgers.
“We get them glasses at a price they can afford,” Cole said. “When we initiated this, we were trying to pay for everything but we found that, if people don’t have a little of iron in the fire, they don’t always take care of something.”
The Lions have several fundraising campaigns annually to help with the cost of their work. They sell Vidalia onions, brooms and candy.
“The onions are our primary fundraiser for the scholarship that we do for a local student,” Bridgers said. “It isn’t much but for students every little bit helps.”
Club member Jeannie Harris said that her fellow Lions have a big heart for helping others.
“They really live our motto,” Harris said. “Everything that they do, they do it from the heart; they are all genuine. Whenever we are at the market or at the Sweet Potato Festival, they know everyone who comes up by name.”
The Lions Club meets the 3rd Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Darlington Country Club. Monthly dues are $20 and a meal is included with each meeting. New members are always welcome.