Riverside Lions Club Community Updates, New Leadership Announced

The Riverside Lions will have different leadership for the first time in FOURTEEN years. 

Pictured below (left to right) are Lee Barnhart, incoming President, Kendra Gagilano, incoming 1st Vice President and outgoing president PDG Chip Campbell. 

Although Lee has been a member for a short while, he is following in his Grandpap’s footsteps, Past-President Jim Westlund, who joined the club many years ago.  Before becoming a Lion Lee helped in every event we hosted, along with his Grandma Sue and his Mother Megan. Also, non-members.

Joan Bowser was inducted into the District 14 N Honor Roll of Lions.  She was voted in by a panel of her peers and it is one of the top honors given by District 14N.  Joan has served as the Riverside Club Treasurer for 20 years. She is also co-chair of all the District Basket events and serves as the treasurer for Beaver County Math 24 and SPOT camera.  She is also active with Woman’s Network. And volunteers weekly for Meals on Wheels.

The Lions hosted a Party at the New Brighton Lighthouse for the Blind last month.  This party is held for the blind and visually impaired in the Beaver Valley.  The attendees were treated to pizza, cole slaw, chips, ice cream and beverages.  Entertainment was provided by Bernie Cunningham, who played the guitar and sang.  He was joined by the group on many of the songs.  Some members also helped with the Lighthouse clean-up effort.  We worked along the Little Beaver Lions in cleaning up the space beside the building to prepare it for Fall Symposium held there this year.

The club donated $500.00 to “Healthy Ellwood”, the Department of Defense initiative that brought 170 military personnel to provide various health services to people in the Ellwood and surrounding areas. We also had club members donate their time in this effort.  Pictured are Rehanna Schnell, who spearheaded the effort to obtain this tremendous event for Ellwood City.  So many people benefited from this, and all of it was free.  She deserves a special thanks. The club received a Certificate of Appreciation for our part in the event.  Pictured are Past District Governor Jeff Loudermilk, PDG Maria Loudermilk, current District Governor Brad Ballie, Riverside King Lion Lee Barnhart, and PDG Chip Campbell accepting the certificate.

We had the opportunity to distribute over 1200 separate school supplies to 6 different schools and office supplies to Holy Redeemer Social Services.  Pictured are Deb Whitlatch and Marilynn O’Connel accepting for the Riverside School system.

Donated to the local radio station WXED-FM.  The radio station recently lost federal funding and is finding it hard to make ends meet. Pictured are PDG Chip Campbell and Station Manager Mary Ann Shanner.

We hosted our annual Basket Luncheon; this year’s event was named “Thru the Decades”.  The event was held at the Connoquenessing Country Club.  And was attended by approximately 90 people, all with the hope of going home with one of the more than 85 regular baskets and 10 baskets with a value of $250 or more.   We would like to thank Megan Barnhart, Roberta Young, Cathy Chamberlin, and Tanya Bobner, for all their help and although not Lions in reality, are definitely Lions at heart.

The Club was able to purchase a large amount of children’s clothing, which we split between Divine Grace Social Services and Riverside Angel Fund.  This donation was made possible with the help of the employees at Label Shopper and private donations.  Accepting the clothes for Riverside school is Karen Medued and Collene LaNeve pictured with King Lion Lee Barnhart.

We will be holding our Night at the Race on November 15 at the Moose Lodge. If interested, please contact a club member or call 724-944-1869.  Tickets are $25 and gets all you can eat and refreshments.

as submitted by PDG Chip Campbell