The Lions Club of
Berowra

About Us

The Lions Club of Berowra - What We Do

Meetings:

We have our Dinner Meetings on the third Wednesday of the month at Club Berowra and these are mainly social and informative nights. Club business is largely avoided at these meetings unless circumstances dictate otherwise. All formal business of the Club is managed at the Board Meeting on the first Thursday of the month. All members are welcome to attend the Board Meeting but only the elected officers are required to attend.

Activities:

Our Club restored, maintains and manages the Berowra District Hall (on the corner of Berowra Waters Road and Crowley Road) on behalf of Hornsby Shire Council. Profits from the hall are used for maintenance or repairs to the hall and any surplus funds can be used in the community. Council does not take any money from this hall - all money stays in the community. Bookings for the hall are managed by the Club's Hall Director, who also oversees the collection of the money, supervision of the cleaning and minor maintenance.

Lions Christmas Cakes and puddings are organised every year. We will be selling these online here, through Bendigo Bank and at various stands around the region.

Occasionally we are called upon to assist with activities such as selling buttons etc for other charities (for example, Daffodil Day), helping with collections (e.g. Red Shield Appeal, Vinnies Food Drive, etc) or any other cause needing a helping hand.

As our membership grows, we will be looking at new projects that will be of benefit to the community without over-extending our membership or resources. We welcome input from all members with ideas for projects or causes to support.

Social:

We are looking at re-introducing some social activities such a dinner parties, theatre groups, social sports, etc. Nothing is organised at the moment but as our membership grows we will be seeking suggestions and initiating some outings.

Lions International

Founded: 1917
Motto: "We Serve"
Members: 1.4 million
Clubs: 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographic areas

Mission:

To create and foster a spirit of understanding among all people for humanitarian needs by providing voluntary service through community involvement and international cooperation.

PURPOSES

• To Create and foster a spirit of understanding among the peoples of the world.
• To Promote the principles of good government and good citizenship.
• To Fund and otherwise serve the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of the community.
• To Assist financially, culturally, socially, and morally the disabled, disadvantaged and infirm of the community both directly and also indirectly.
• To Unite the clubs in the bonds of friendship, good fellowship and mutual understanding.
• To Provide a forum for the open discussion of all matters of public interest; provided, however, that partisan politics and sectarian religion shall not be debated by club members.
• To Encourage service-minded people to serve their community without personal financial reward, and to encourage efficiency and promote high ethical standards in commerce, industry, professions, public works and private endeavours

CODE of ETHICS

• To Show my faith in the worthiness of my vocation by industrious application to the end that I may merit a reputation for quality of service.
• To Seek success and to demand all fair remuneration or profit as my just due, but to accept no profit or success at the price of my own self-respect lost because of unfair advantage taken or because of questionable acts on my part.
• To Remember that in building up my business it is not necessary to tear down another's; to be loyal to my clients or customers and true to myself.
• Whenever a doubt arises as to the right or ethics of my position or action towards others, to resolve such doubt against myself.
• To Hold friendship as an end and not a means. To hold that true friendship exists not on account of the service performed by one to another, but that true friendship demands nothing but accepts service in the spirit in which it is given.
• Always to bear in mind my obligations as a citizen to my nation, my state and my community, and to give to them my unswerving loyalty in word, act and deed. To give them freely of my time, labour and means.
• To Aid others by giving my sympathy to those in distress, my aid to the weak, and my substance to the needy.
• To be Careful with my criticism and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy.

A Brief History of Lions International

The International Association of Lions Clubs began as the dream of Chicago businessman Melvin Jones. He believed that local business clubs should expand their horizons from purely professional concerns to the betterment of their communities and the world at large.

Jones' group, the Business Circle of Chicago, agreed. After contacting similar groups around the United States, an organizational meeting was held on June 7, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The new group took the name of one of the invited groups, the "Association of Lions Clubs," and a national convention was held in Dallas, Texas, USA in October of that year. A constitution, by-laws, objects and code of ethics were approved.

Among the objects adopted in those early years was one that read, "No club shall hold out the financial betterment of its members as its object". This call for unselfish service to others remains one of the association's main tenets. Just three years after its formation, the association became international when the first club in Canada was established in 1920. Major international expansion continued as clubs were established, particularly throughout Europe, Asia and Africa during the 1950s and ’60s.

In 1925, Helen Keller addressed the Lions international convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, USA. She challenged Lions to become "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness." From this time, Lions clubs have been actively involved in service to the blind and visually impaired.

Broadening its international role, Lions Clubs International helped the United Nations form the Non-Governmental Organizations sections in 1945 and continues to hold consultative status with the U.N.

In 1990, Lions launched its most aggressive sight preservation effort, SightFirst. The US$143.5 million program strives to rid the world of preventable and reversible blindness by supporting desperately needed health care services.

In addition to sight programs, Lions Clubs International is committed to providing services for youth. Lions clubs also work to improve the environment, build homes for the disabled, support diabetes education, conduct hearing programs and, through their foundation, provide disaster relief around the world.

Lions Clubs International has grown to include 1.4 million men and women in 46,000 clubs located in around 200 countries and geographic areas.

2023 » 2024 — Brian Engert OAM

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