> The Skidmore-Tynan Lions Club came into existence through the efforts of Walter Wright and Ken Steffens, who became the Charter Night President and Secretary, respectfully. Through their hard work and with the assistance of Lion Bill Moody from Beeville, the Skidmore-Tynan Lions held its Charter Night Banquet at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church April 3, 1990.
Like any other organization, the S-T Lions has had their ups and downs and continued to grow stronger throughout the years. They held a large rummage sale, a mop and broom sale and sponsored their first Punt, Pass & Kick competition in September of 1990. The kids that participated that year thought that it was real neat that the Lions colors were the same as the schools, purple and gold.
With the different programs that these Lions support they needed to find more ways to raise the funds they needed. They started off with an Easter Bake Sale which lead them to their Valentine Bake Sale which led them to their biggest fund raiser, their annual “turkey shoots” in November. Since that time there have been other fund raisers with the funds going to support those programs listed in this brochure. They even held a “special” turkey shoot one year which enabled them to give “Halo Flight”, the air ambulance service out of Corpus Christi, a significant donation.
Most of the funds that these Lions raise are spent right here in Skidmore, Tynan, Papalote and Olmos. Students who need eyeglasses get eyeglasses depending upon the support that the community gives to the Lions. If the Lions can’t furnish the total cost of the eyeglasses, they help with the purchase. They, also, use the funds to assist the St. Vincent De Paul Society provide Christmas Baskets to the needy families of Skidmore, Tynan, Papalote and Olmos.
Over the past nineteen years, the S-T Lions have gotten more involved with the youth of our community. In 1998 the S-T Lions became the Chartered Organization for BSA Troop/Pack 456. In this capacity, several Lions have attended Cub and Scout Master Training at Camp Karankawa on Lake Corpus Christi. Other Lions have become active on the Committee to help in the operation of the Troop/Pack. This is one of the major youth programs of the S-T Lions. They assisted in establishing a Girl Scout Troup and are investigating other youth programs that would include all ages, a program that would be co-ed, an Explorer Group or the LEO Program. Our youth are our future and the time spent in order to help them discover who they are and where they want to go is worth every second spent.
The S-T Lions has the reputation of “Doing so much with so few” within District 2-S4. They have been called upon to assist other clubs in problem areas and called upon if something needs to get done in their area.
Within the area of the International Organization, the S-T Lions took part in raising over $3,000,000 to eradicate preventable blindness. And when possible, they assist in sending relief to disaster stricken areas.
Many of the Charter Members, including the President, Secretary, the 1st. and 2nd Vice-presidents, and Tail Twister also belonged to the Skidmore Volunteer Fire Department and latter re-organized the Skidmore Volunteer Ambulance Service. So, one might say that we are a "volunteer" community for where there is a need, there are those who step up to fill that need.
Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization with more than 1.4 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world.
