Summit Lions Club
Submitted by Peter Twill
The Summit Lions Club celebrated their 95th Anniversary in February. The Club was chartered in 1926 at the Blue Lantern Tea Room (where Winberrie is located) with a group of 27 businessmen. The first president was Eric Von Siefart. Charles Baum was the secretary. The meetings were then held at the Grand Summit Hotel. The club reached a peak of 65 members in the 1970’s. The first woman president was Mary Lou Havanick in 1988.
The Club membership is now 20 and meets once a month at Marco Polo. Members come from Summit and surrounding towns. Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become the knights of the blind in 1925 at the Lions National Convention in Cedar Point Ohio. The club’s main mission is to assist the blind and visually impaired locally and throughout the world. We collect over 1,000 pairs of unwanted eyeglasses each year and distribute them around the world to millions who need but cannot afford eyeglasses. Other missions include the environment, diabetes, youth and hunger.
To find out more about the Summit Lions Club and how you can help us meet our goals, visit our website at summitlionsclub.org.
