Lions Club starting new service project to aid hearing impaired

    As a new president takes the reins for the Imperial Lions Club, the 2021-22 year also includes a new service project the club is sponsoring to help the hearing impaired.
    President Randy Hayes encouraged club members at one of his first meetings after assuming office to take on the project. A club vote did so.
    The Nebraska Lions Foundation operates a Hearing Bank, which collects used hearing aids, then has them refurbished. When they are ready to use, they are made available at no charge to worthy candidates.
    Members of Lions Clubs throughout Nebraska take applications for potential recipients ages 19 to 64. From those applications, a selection committee with the NLF then makes the decision on who receives the hearing aids, Hayes said.
    The local Lions are a go-between for the applicant and the Nebraska Lions Foundation by providing applications to receive the hearing aids.
    Hayes has applications available now, and the club is arranging for other locations at which they can be found.
    If interested, contact Hayes at 308-882-4923.
New officers
    Lions club officers for 2021-22 were elected earlier this summer and include Hayes, president; Tammy Siverson, vice president; Jan Schultz, secretary; Miles Colson, treasurer; Sheryl Curtis, membership chair; Nick Schultz, LCIF chair; and Dennis Batterman, Lion Tamer/Tail Twister.
    In place of the club’s September meeting, the Lions hosted a bingo appreciation dinner Sept. 28. About 50 club members and community volunteers attended.
    Hayes welcomed the group, and thanked the volunteers who help out the Lions each year at the bingo stand at fair.
    The four days of bingo this year resulted in the club’s second best gross sales with $13,123 collected from bingo card sales. That’s just $60 off the best year in 2013.
    Over 56,000 cards were played over the four days.
    “Volunteers from the community are critical” to the success of the bingo stand, said treasurer Colson.
    Several service efforts of the Lions have been reviewed at recent meetings.
    From its summer peach sales, the club donated $450 to the Nebraska Lions Foundation to help with its statewide service efforts.
    The Imperial Lions are coordinating the Mobile Screening Unit for Chase County Schools health checks Nov. 10-11. The MSU screens for both hearing and vision while on site at the school.
    Club members will also conduct vision screenings for  preschool students in the community.