WILTON — The Wilton Lions Club’s 2018-19 season is well underway, with a variety of events planned for the coming months.
This year, club members voted to assume responsibilities for local Veterans Day and Memorial Day observances.
The club, which has about 50 members, has been in existence since 1945. Meetings have been held at the former American Legion Hall, 364 Main St., since about 10 years ago. The Lions bought the hall in 2015. In 2017 new siding was put on the building and improvements and upgrades are done as needed.
The club meets from mid-September to mid-May on the second and fourth Monday of each month. Meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. a flag salute, “America,” the Lions Pledge, an invocation and introduction of guests, then dinner is served.
A guest speaker usually follows dinner. This past year some of the speakers were Bob Howe of the Pine Grove Program in Pleasant Ridge Plantation; Maine Game Warden Lt. Tim Place; Ron Morin of Sugarloaf Ambulance/Rescue; Lt. Mark Brooks, Troop C of the Maine State Police; Warren Dyke of Dyke Associates, Windham; and Tim Lovett of Maine Made Furniture.
In late January a group of the Lions spends two days at Sugarloaf providing snacks and donated meals to the athletes competing in the Maine Special Olympics. The club has been doing this since 1983. Lions also spend the day at R. S. Osgood open house in East Dixfield, assisting in providing food and serving french fries.
The Lions are very active in the community, including a three-day yard sale, which is the primary fundraiser. Other activities include participation in the Blueberry Festival, and collecting eyeglasses, hearing aids and cell phones for recycling. The club contributes an average of $13,000 to the community each year to groups such as Boy Scouts, scholarships and special requests.
Every Wednesday and Thursday members transport food from Hannaford supermarket in Jay to the food bank, and every three months members bring about 400-plus cases of food from Good Shepard Food Bank of Maine and donated food from Save-A-Lot to the local food bank at the United Methodist Church.
The hall is available for functions at a reasonable cost and the club has two large tents to rent that members will put up and take down, also for a reasonable cost.
