Fort Collins Lions Club Celebrates 102 Year Anniversary

The Fort Collins Lions Club is celebrating 102 years of serving northern Colorado. It is part of the largest international service organization-LCIF. The Fort Collins Lions Foundation is a 501C3, nonprofit organization.

Their motto is “We Serve”! A trademark of Fort Collins Lions is our pancake breakfasts. The Club purchases all supplies and we cook and serve pancakes, breakfast sausages, coffee, and apple juice. If the breakfast is in support of a nonprofit organization they may choose to charge for the breakfast and use it as their fundraiser. To celebrate our 102 years of serving our community they sponsored a free breakfast on Saturday, July 30, at the Murphy Center.

They served 125 breakfasts to adults and children. Another project was Care Kits. They handed out filled with toiletries and Kids Kits filled with school supplies and goodies. The next breakfast will be on September 10 for Healing Warriors to be held at the Drake Center.

Lions are known for their work with vision. Helen Keller challenged Lions in 1925 to be “Knights of the blind”. Our vision projects include Adult Sight where we give vouchers that allow you to get an eye exam and a pair of glasses for $5.00. Call 970 377-2282 to see if you qualify. KidSight is a program for preschools, daycares, and nursery schools where we take a picture of the child’s eye to see if there are areas of concern.

In 2000 they helped to establish the Ensight Skills Center, a nonprofit organization serving clients with low vision.

Lions also work with diabetes, pediatric cancer, environmental issues, hunger, and other areas of service. They have an annual Peace Poster Contest in the middle schools in October and a Speech Contest in the high schools in March. They partner with the Salvation Army to “ring the bell” in December, and sponsor a toiletry drive in the fall and a toy and food drive in December.

To raise money to help the community with grants and all service projects, the Club switched from selling light bulbs and brooms to hosting two bingo sessions weekly at Bingo Planet in Loveland. Join them Tuesdays, 5-9 and Fridays, 10-2.

They are also hosting a first Wednesday of the month special bingo session, Double Action Night, 5-9. All profits from our fundraising must be returned to the community within 12 months. Usually, this is in the form of grants to nonprofits, schools, etc., and all projects they do.

The Club meets at the Salvation Army building at 3901 S Mason, Fort Collins, on the second and fourth Thursdays monthly at 11:30. There is a lunch, a short business meeting, and then a program. Please check out the website for further information: Fortcollinslions.org.