Plato Lions celebrate legacy of service

The Plato Lions Club celebrated the impact of Lions at the international, national and local level at a celebration Sunday afternoon in the city park.
The club also dedicated a new park bench to the memory of Harlan Wilkens, one of the Plato club’s charter members.
It was noted that 2017 was the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of Lions Club International, and it is the 34th anniversary of the Plato Lions Club.
According to information provided by Connie Rau at the ceremony, the Lions Club was established on June 7, 1917, by Chicago businessman Melvin Jones, for whom the Lions’ highest award is named.
Jones’ guiding principal was “You can’t get very far until you start doing something for someone else,” which became the foundation of the club’s dedication to service.
The newly formed organization only had about two dozen clubs scattered around the United States, and became “international” in 1920 when a club was established in Ontario, Canada.
In 1925, Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become “Knights of the Blind,” which led to the Lions dedication to vision-related work around the globe.
Today, there are more than 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries. It is predicted that Lions clubs will be serving 200 million people by the year 2021.
 

Read the full story in the May 10 edition of The McLeod County Chronicle.