NA Lion’s Club anniversary

Oct 25, 2010 News

NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE – The New Amsterdam Lion’s Club observed its 49th year of existence with a week of activities. The body was chartered on October 23rd, 1961 and was primarily a male club. The first set of women – seven- were subsequently admitted between 1992 and 1993.

Lion La Rose (centre) and two other members during the medical outreach programme

Lion Edward Ted Loquan served as the first President in 1961. The earliest female President was Mary Lindie. She was elected to serve for the 1997/1998 fiscal year and was also the first woman in Berbice to hold the position of Zone and Region Chairman in the organisation.
Today the club has an active membership of 21 and spans from Mara to New Amsterdam, including West Canje and operates under the ‘We Serve’ Motto.
Current President Marilyn La Rose said that the activities to mark the anniversary, commenced with a prayer breakfast at the Lion’s Den in Vryman’s Erven two Sundays ago. Last Monday, 20 persons were treated during an eye screening project. The following day the vision screening was done at the Anjuman Orphanage where 40 children between the ages of seven and 15 were seen. Three of them were found to have low vision and received spectacles free of cost. On Wednesday, 60 senior citizens were fêted at the annual luncheon. Last Thursday was the monthly school-feeding project at the St. Aloysius Primary School. On Friday there was the blood pressure and blood sugar screening project at the Banks DIH tarmac at New Street in New Amsterdam.
Lion La Rose described the past 49 years as an accomplishment, given the number of lives the organisation would have touched. The New Amsterdam Lion’s Club operates under the principle that service has no boundaries.
The construction of the New Amsterdam Special Needs School is said to be one of the biggest projects executed by the Club. This was done in the early 1990s in collaboration with other sister clubs in Guyana. The 30th anniversary project, which was the construction of two steel bridges linking Republic Road and Vryman’s Erven and Smythfield and Vryman’s Erven, is the one which gave the club much recognition.
Last year, the New Amsterdam Lion’s Club embarked on a one-year school-feeding programme. The drive got started with St. Aloysius Primary in New Amsterdam and subsequently moved on to four other institutions – St. Therese’s, All Saints, New Amsterdam and Overwinning Primary Schools. So far some 300 students derived the benefits.
There is also an ongoing Eye Clinic, a signature project, which has been in existence for more than two decades. The service is offered every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 09:00 to 15:00 hours at the Lion’s Den. On those days, the range of service includes vision screening, distribution of spectacles, and repair of glasses, sharing of handouts and when necessary, referrals are done. An average of 60 persons are dealt with at the eye clinic on a monthly basis.
According to Lion La Rose, this eye clinic project was even conducted in Paramaribo on two occasions in conjunction with the Paramaribo North Lion’s Club.
The activities to mark the 49th anniversary came to an end on Saturday with a Dinner/Meeting at the Den. Members with 10 or more years of service were recognised at the function. Among them are Lions Jennifer Conway, Leila Clarke Daniels, Clifford Johnson, Marilyn La Rose, Ramesh Maraj, Pansy Shivmangal, Pamela Simon, Joan Vanderstoop and Winston Henry.