Lions Club Celebrates 60th Anniversary

The Newtown Lions Club recently completed 60 years of service to Newtown and the world. A celebration dinner was held at Three Oaks at Capellaro’s Grove, and featured guest speakers were Newtown Selectman Herb Rosenthal; Mark Lyon, the vice district governor of Lions District 23A; and Danbury Lions Club President Gerry Hoffman. In all, 90 people enjoyed an evening of reminiscing about the six decades of Lions activities.

The Lions Club of Newtown was established on November 30, 1948, and was sponsored by the Lions Club of Danbury. One of its founding members, William Honan, is still an active member.

The Lions have a long record of service to the local community, starting with the purchase of portable bleachers for Hawley School in 1949. In 1951 Lions members repaired and repainted the “Welcome to Newtown” signs at six main entrance roads to Newtown.

The first Drivers Education classes came to Newtown High School when the Lions Club underwrote the cost of gas and maintenance for a dual control car in 1954. The following year, the club and Liberty Garage donated a new car to the high school.

In 1956, the Lions donated time and funds to provide a 16-by-32-foot bathhouse at Dickenson Park. In 1963 a refreshment stand was also donated and set up at the park.

The Lions sponsored a Pop Warner football team in 1969. Ten years later, the Lions built and paid for a hut at Dickenson Park to provide warmth for ice skaters. In 1984, the club raised funds for the mural in Edmond Town Hall. A gazebo was donated to the Nunnawauk Meadows senior housing complex in 1996. The next year, the club took over sponsorship of the annual “Lose The Litter” cleanup day.

In 2000, The Lions co-sponsored a fundraising effort to build an $80,000 playground at Treadwell Park. Starting in 2004, the Lions Club raised more than $200,000 to replace all 411 theater seats at Edmond Town Hall, a project that was completed in December 2007.

More recently, the Lions Club has been sending care packages to service members in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

In addition to hands-on projects, the Lions have supported numerous regional, national, and international charities. The funds they raised through various raffles, pancake breakfasts, light bulb sales, art auctions, and the annual Great Pootatuck Duck Race have been used to fund local and regional food banks, homeless shelters, Booth Library, the Labor Day Parade, activities at the high school, youth programs, and many others.

At the national and international level, the club donates to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, diabetes and cancer organizations, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and numerous Connecticut and International Lions programs aimed at blindness prevention and assistance to the blind and deaf.

Newtown residents are familiar with many of the Lions’ fundraising activities. Over the years, the club sponsored a carnival, the Miss Newtown Pageant, various raffles and light bulb sales. Currently, its largest fundraisers are the annual Mustang raffle and Great Pootatuck Duck Race. In 2008, the Lions raised more than $65,000 for charity.