Lions Club celebrates centennial through service

To celebrate Lions Clubs International’s centennial, the Bellmore Lions Club recently partnered with the North Bellmore School District to clean up the community and make the lives of seriously ill children just a little better.

Earlier this year, North Bellmore fifth- and sixth-graders were invited to take part in the Centennial Service Challenge, for which they submitted proposals for service projects that they thought would benefit North Bellmore and Bellmore.

Lions Club members reached out to all five North Bellmore elementary schools and said they were impressed by the overwhelming response that they received. Some 405 students took part, submitting thoughtful, community-oriented proposals that highlighted their understanding of and love for their local community.

At first, Lions Club members said they would select one service-project idea to implement. But Danica Brugge, a teacher in the North Bellmore district, said Lions Club members decided instead to carry out three of them, including projects proposed by:

Saw Mill Road sixth-grader Louis Sedita, who planned a community cleanup.

Saw Mill Road sixth-grader Maria Torres, who planned a crayon and coloring-book collection for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Saw Mill Road fifth-grader Aidan Connor, who planned a DVD collection for donation medical facilities.

Also, Park Avenue sixth-grader Nicholas Carrano received an Honorable Mention for his community cleanup proposal.

“The service project ideas were as unique as the students that wrote them,” said North Bellmore Superintendent Marie Testa in a letter to families and faculty members. “The students’ ideas certainly supported the mission we have relating to contributing to the global community with creativity and compassion.”

The Lions Club just recently finished the crayon and coloring-book collection project. Collection bins were placed in each of North Bellmore’s elementary schools. More than 800 coloring books were gathered.

The Lions Club intends to complete all of the projects by the end of the year.