ABOUT THE Heartland Lions
“Serving from the Heart”
The Heartland Lions Club was chartered in 1957 by Lions Clubs International to serve the towns of Royalton, Tunbridge, and Sharon. It was called “Heartland” to signify that it’s service area was in the “heart” of Vermont. The initial goals of the Club were to promote vision conservation, assist area residents in purchasing glasses, provide financial help in case of emergency, and help make referrals to medical professionals for diabetes screenings and care. In time the Club adopted the additional goals of hearing conservation, annual scholarships totaling $3000.00 for graduating high school students, and drug abuse prevention with the Lions Quest program and Project Graduation. For several decades the Heartland Lions Club has owned and operated the Paine’s Beach recreation area on North Windsor Street in South Royalton. Paine’s Beach is the Club’s major physical service project to our community. A picnic pavilion, charcoal grills, sandy beach on the White River, and space for family recreational activities make the property, open from Memorial Day through mid-September of each year, a pleasant spot for relaxation. Local families, church groups, Vermont Law School, recreation organizations, and others make use of the facilities on a regular basis.
The Heartland Lions Club presently consists of 26 members who meet on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month, except those with a Monday holiday. We celebrated our 50th Anniversary in January, 2007. For five decades we have served the tri-town area. To support our local charitable obligations we schedule several fund raising activities each year, the most recent addition being our highly successful Valentine’s Dinner Dance and Raffle.
As a service organization we can use your help. Please call one of the members listed if you are interested in joining this group of dedicated community members who work hard to provide for their neighbors.
Our motto is “We Serve”. Will you?
Lions clubs bring people
together …
….for friendships
…for a better tomorrow
Heartland Lions Club Projects
- Vision and Hearing: We give eyeglasses and hearing aids to persons who cannot afford them; we have donated vision and hearing screening machines to the South Royalton School.
- Scholarships: We provide 4 scholarships of $500 each to students that live in our 3 service towns.
- Paine’s Beach:: The Heartland Lions Club own Paine’s Beach. We do the daily and yearly maintainance of the beach.
- Donations: We donate to Christmas baskets in our three communities, South Royalton’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner, Project Graduation, South Royalton High School’s Yearbook, Life Skills for Women, Lions’ Twin State Soccer Cup, Tunbridge Bone Builders, sponsor the South Royalton Cub Scouts and offer relief to victims of flood and fire, and more.
OUR FUND RAISERS:
Big Six Wheel at Tunbridge Fair
Food concession at History Expo
Food concession at Sheep & Wool Festival
Valentine’s Dance and Raffle
Community Christmas Memory Tree
Annual March Rose Sale
Mints at local restaurants
