Union Lions Club inducts 62nd member

The Union County Lions Club held its second monthly meeting on Thursday evening, September 27, 2007, at Steve's Cookie Jar restaurant in Blairsville. Dove Smith made a presentation to the club of cell phones, hearing aids and eye glasses that had belonged to her dad, "Pop" George Ross, recently deceased. "Pop", like his daughter, Dove, and son-inlaw Chief, was a member of our club. We were used to seeing him proudly wearing his baseball cap with the words, "WWII Vet" emblazoned on the front. He will be remembered for his gentlemanly ways, his love of people and his gift of conversation.

Myers Bannister, Past International Director, Past District Governor, and member of our neighboring Lions Club in Towns County, addressed us on the topic of Campaign Sight First II; its goal is to prevent blindness. As its coordinator, he spoke of the success of Campaign Sign First I in preventing river blindness in countries in South America and

Africa by the simple process of taking one pill per year for three years. Over the past 20 years, $215 million raised by Lions, has been spent in projects like this. Our goal for Campaign Sight First II is to raise $150 million with part of that sum going to research in the areas of diabetic blindness, glaucoma, macular degeneration, etc.

Our 62nd member of the Union County Lions Club was inducted as well. Rosa Mandon, sponsored by Lion Jean Hamburger, already lives the Lions motto - We Serve. Her activities include volunteering in the Auxiliary at Union County Hospital, at hospice and at S.A.F.E. You can see that she is a giving, sharing person. In her free time, she enjoys sewing and knitting.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, October 11 at 6:00 p.m. at Steve's Cookie Jar in Blairsville.