Are You Serving?

During the last two weeks, we presented different types of service projects for Lions Clubs. The good news is that many of the Lions Clubs in District 30-M are serving. Serving others accomplishes several objectives.


Service Helps Others – Helping others is a basic tenant of Lions Clubs International. Lions founder Melvin Jones had a personal creed. “You can’t go very far until you start doing something for somebody else.” Jones was a successful insurance salesman in Chicago a hundred years ago. He didn’t wait until he made his fortune to start Lions either. He started it when he was under 40. He saw needs. He recognized that he and his fellow businessmen could help real people. Even today, people in our community still have needs.

Service Helps Ourselves –Humans want to help others because it fulfils a basic natural need. Think about it for a minute. What is the natural reaction if someone is on the ground bleeding? Someone calls 911. Another tries to administer first aid. Another tries to console on-lookers. That is service. There is a need. Others meet those needs.

Think about the feeling of helping a neighbor who just suffered a major loss. It may be a simple act of cooking a meal, or even just visiting that brings about personal fulfilment. Why? Because you helped someone in need.

Service Grows Membership – A Lions Club that is very active in serving the community is normally one that expands membership. Conversely, a club that does not serve is one with membership stagnation.

Which is easier to turn down? “Can you come to a Lions meeting with me tomorrow?” “On Saturday our Lions Club is collecting food for the local food pantry. Can you help us?” Obviously, the first choice is very easy to turn down. The second choice is much more difficult. Why?

People want to serve others. Get non-Lions involved in serving and it becomes very natural for them to ask about membership. They see “We Serve” up close and personal.

Service Grows Service – It takes both human and financial resources to serve. There are many needs that go unmet. New Lions mean that some service previously unseen now become noticed. That’s because there are more eyes to see those needs. That’s because different people see different needs. An increase in membership also means there are more financial resources available. Lions are generous people. Lions are hard working people. Lions find a way to blend internal resources with fund-raising to the general public.

Make service a priority in your club. The fund-raising will follow naturally.


We Serve because Kindness Matters 

Lion Andy Kalinowski (Andy K) 
District Governor
662.549.3421 

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