The Plant City Lions Club’s April 2 meeting celebrated the group’s 90th anniversary in town.
Today is the actual 90th anniversary of the Plant City Lions Club’s founding, but the group’s current members celebrated two days early at its regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting.
One of the oldest and most prolific civic groups in Plant City, the Lions are well-known for their commitment to helping others better their lives in a variety of ways. Plant City’s chapter has developed numerous fundraising events over the years including an annual charity golf tournament, a sporting clays shoot, health fairs, car washes, picnics, food booths and more.
“We all work very hard with four fundraisers every year, and we give away almost $100,000 a year,” club president Frank Cummings said. “It’s a really good feeling, especially when somebody calls you up and says ‘thank you’ or tells you how much you’ve improved their life.”
They’re also in charge of the Florida Strawberry Festival Queen’s Pageant and get local students active through the affiliated Leos clubs. The Lions also helped get the Florida Strawberry Festival up and running in its early days and ran the event until it was able to go fully independent.
The Lions Auxiliary Club, which consisted of the wives of Lions Club members, actively helped Plant City’s Lions for 77 years before choosing to fold in July 2018. Women have, however, been able to join Lions clubs since 1987 and Plant City’s female members have since become crucial to the club’s ongoing operations.
“I think one of our proudest moments was many, many years ago when Lions International admitted women into the organization,” longtime member Bob Fulks said. “Our female members have been a godsend to us. They have been a blessing to us.”
Though one of the Plant City group’s biggest annual endeavors is the Lions International eyeglass recycling program and spends much of its time helping people with their eye health, it will often seek out local causes. The Lions have helped raise funds for numerous cancer treatments for Plant Citians and to help their families get by. One of its more recent projects involved raising money to construct a large sun shade for the playground at the Willis Peters Exceptional Center in Dover, which was previously plagued by midday sunlight hitting so directly that everything became too hot to even touch, let along play on.
“It’s a great club, a great group of people we have here,” Cummings said. “They’re always giving.”
