Kenmore Lions Club - Lions e-Clubhouse

Kenmore Lions Christmas Party

District Governor Lion Mike Yost with his Partner In Service Lion Debbie Yost visited the Kenmore and Kenmore Better Vision Lions Clubs on 12-20-22 at their Holiday Luncheon. District Governor Mike presented Lion Sheila Jones with the LCI International President's Certificate of Appreciation for her dedicated work on the Sunshine Committee and keeping us all up to date on our District Facebook pages. The DG also swore in new member James Miller. Santa made his yearly visit and passed out candy canes to all present.

District Governor Honors Two Local Lions with Prestigious Awards

On December 1, 2020 District Governor Rick Battaglia made his "visit" to the Kenmore Lions Club via Zoom. DG Rick gave a very interesting talk on "Reimagining Lions as we enter into our 2nd. Century of Service." He discussed membership - both new and retention, and branch Clubs. The Club was honored to have our Distinct Governor present 2 prestigious awards to our members as well as several service chevrons.

Lion James Cornwell was awarded the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award and Lion Joe Argenio was awarded the Robert J. Uplinger Service Award. Lion James Cornwell is the Club Sight Conservation Chair and is responsible for 29 used eyeglass collection boxes in our service area. These collections made possible the reclaiming of 300 frames used at the recent Eyeglass Clinic that resulted in providing free eyeglasses to 37 members of our community. Lion Joe Argenio has served as past president as well as serving as chairman of the annual Chicken BBQ, Peace Poster Contest, Essay Contest, Board of Directors, and numerous standing committees. The Club was honored to have District Governor Rick and his escorts PCC Lion Sharon Battaglia and CS Lion Barry Scott at our "meeting."

Free Eyeglass Clinic Held for Community

collage of photos from the eyeglass screening event

The Kenmore Lions Club completed their first ever Free Eyeglass Clinic at the Parkside Community Center on Saturday October 17, 2020. Eyeglass screening was performed by Dr. Mark Gordon. Jack Sheperd and Janet Acara, two local opticians, took all the necessary measurements for prescription eyeglasses. More than three hundred eyeglass frames were available for personal selection and the eyeglasses will be made to order. A total of 34 prescriptions were issued, 8 of which were for children under 18 years of age. This is expected to be an annual event.

Scholarship Award Winner Announced

The Kenmore Lions Club Scholarship Project chairman Lion Don Kossuth announced that Claire Bressette is the 2020 winner of the annual scholarship award. This award is the first of 4 annual awards to assist in the winner's college education. Claire is a 2020 graduate of Mt. St. Mary Academy. She is active in rugby, track, band (sax player) and will attend Geneseo to study psychology in the hopes of a career in social work. The past winners also received their annual awards: 2019 Capriana Romanini, 2018 Ryan Glab, and 2017 Caitlin Tracy. Lion Don thanks his committee for their assistance: Lions Eileen Kirchgraber, Gail Licata, and Bahry Cohen.


2020: Claire Bressette	2019: Capriana Romanini	2018: Ryan Glab	2017: Caitlin Tracy

Lions Deliver Respite to Frontline Health Professionals

Despite limitations posed by the coronavirus pandemic, local Lions clubs are still serving their communities. On May 1 2020, Lions club members from the Kenmore Lions, Sheridan Drive Lions, Tonawandas Erie Canal Gateway Lions, and North Buffalo Community Lions, provided “respite” meal deliveries at Kenmore Mercy Hospital. In addition a comfort care bag was also provided. Each comfort care bag contains items identified as needed by our front lines: a deodorant, tissue pack, lip balm, pen, Lions mints, mask extender, hand lotion, granola bars, and a thank you note in a zippered plastic reusable travel bag. The intent of the meals, delivered to front line health professionals caring for COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit, is to provide a gesture of thanks and moment away from the stress of caring for the large numbers of these extremely ill patients. Cost of the meals was covered through a grant awarded by the Lions Clubs International Foundation.

Lions with Kelsey Redmann

Guest Speaker at Kenmore Lions Club

Kelsey Redmann, the Community Program Coordinator for the Better Business Bureau, was the guest speaker at the luncheon meeting of the Kenmore Lions Club on March 3, 2020. Ms. Redmann gave an excellent presentation on "Protecting Seniors from Scams." The presentation covered recognizing scams, protecting identity, robo calls, fake charities, and being wise consumers. She outlined the 10 most useful tips to avoid scams and distributed a booklet outlining al these topics. Ms. Redmann conducted a question and answer session after her presentation.

Lions with Kelsey Redmann

President Lion Joe Shiah, Kelsey Redmann, and Program Chair Lion Gail Licata

Annual Pancake Breakfast a Success

Hard working Kenmore Lions, with the help of an outstanding crew of helpers, hosted their 23rd annual Pancake Breakfast on March 1, 2019. The event was a success - good food and great basket raffle, Wagon of Spirits Raffle, and special chocolate raffle was enjoyed by all. Proceeds will benefit the Ken-Ton Community Projects.

Kenmore Lions Peace Poster Winners Luncheon

On February 4, 2020 the Kenmore Lions Club honored the 2019 – 2020 Peace Poster Contest winners at their luncheon meeting. The Peace Poster winners were:

1^st place: Maximilian Benz
2^nd place Christopher DePinto
3^rd place Natalle Roberts.

All the Peace Poster winners were from St. John the Baptist Elementary School. Their Art teacher Carol Bunny, Principal Mrs. Jenny Bainbridge, and the parents of our winners also attended the luncheon. The awards were presented by Club Peace Poster Contest Chairman Lion Joe Argenio with congratulations from all the Club members.

		$Lion Joe with 3rd place winner$

Kenmore Lion Receives Awards

On Tuesday June 18, 2019, PP Lion MJ Silliman presentied Lion Ginny Pingrey with a Lions International President’s Certification of Appreciation for her outstanding devotion to Kenmore Lions Club for the past ten years. Lion Ginny also received a Centennial Gold Award for sponsoring new Lions Ralph MacVittie and David Saxer.

Kenmore Lions Celebrate 90th Anniversary!

On Tuesday June 4, 2019 the Kenmore Lions Club celebrated their 90th Service Anniversary and Officer Induction ceremony with a Banquet at Sean Patrick's Restaurant.

Fellow Lions from various Lions Clubs of District 20-N and our "Twin Lions Club" from Ft. Erie Canada joined in on the celebration. Lions Clubs Past International Director Lion Edward Cortes was the guest speaker and inducted Lion Barb Elliott as President and the new officers for 2019-2020. Lion MJ Silliman was presented with the Lions Clubs International Melvin Jones Fellowship Award for her dedication and leadership in her service to the Club and her 2-years of being Club President. Lion Beverly and James Grimes were awarded the New York State Robert J. Uplinger "Distinguished Service" Award for their years of providing outstanding service to the Club as chairmen of various Club projects and for serving as Lion Tamer for the Club. Lions Joe Argenio and Ginny Pingrey were both awarded Presidential Certificates of Appreciation for their dedication and efforts in their many assignments as Kenmore Lions. Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joseph Emminger presented the Club with Proclamations outlining 90 years of service to the Community. Congratulations and thanks to the Committee for making this celebration such a success.

Awardees at the 90th Anniversary Banquet

Centennial Service Challenge pin Also at the banquet, District Governor Lion Jeff Jarvis presented each Kenmore Lion with the "Centennial Service Challenge Medal". The Club fulfilled the requirements set by LCI for service projects in our Centennial Year 2017. LCI President made the following statement regarding the challenge: “The Centennial Service Challenge highlights the important humanitarian work we do and our impact in communities around the world.”

Memorial Day Parade

On May 27th, the Kenmore Lions Club took part in the 2019 Tonawanda Memorial Day Parade.


The Lions Float	Lion Sharon and her Partner in Service Richard

Kenmore Lions Induct New Member

At the 5/7/19 Club Luncheon Meeting the Kenmore Lions Club PDG Tom Reinagel installed new member Chris Ozimek sponsored by Lion Linda Miller.


PDG Lion Tom Reinagel and Sponsor Linda Miller - Induction Ceremony for Lion Chris Ozimek	Lion Chris adds her "eyeglass" into the contest drawing box	PDG Lion Tom Reinages, Club President Lion MJ Silliman, Lion Chris Ozimek

Banner Patch Awards Presented

Three Banner Patch Awards were presented to the Kenmore Lions Club by DG Jeff Jarvis at the 4/27/19 Cabinet Meeting. The first Patch was the Lions Legacy Patch for providing Three (3) park benches located on the “Rails to Trails” in Lincoln Park. The second and third were Centennial Service Challenge Awards for our work in Diabetes prevention and for the our work in Vision Screening and financial assistance to the agencies in our Community.

Peace Poster and Essay Contest Winners

The Peace Poster and Essay Contest winners for 2019 were honored at a luncheon at the February 5, 2019 meeting. Project Chairman IPP Lion Joe Argenio presented checks and certificates to:

Peace Poster: 1^st place: Jackson Stang from St Johns School:

2^nd place: Adrianna Rodriguez from Applied Technology Charter School:

3^rd place: Ann Marie Kurtz from St. Andrew’s School:

Essay: From Herbert Hoover Middle School: Sydney Gasiorek

Our 1^st place winner Jackson Stang went on to be the 3^rd place winner in the District 20N Peace Poster Contest and our essay winner Sydney Gasiorek went on to win the District 20N winner and continued on to be a contestant in the New York State MD20 essay contest.