The Lake Alfred Lions Club was chartered on November 29, 1945, by H. M. "Van" Brian. Van owned & operated a service station in Lake Alfred for more than 15 years. In later years he managed his citrus business. Lion Van served the Club in every office available and went on to serve as District Cabinet Secretary-Treasurer in 1950-51. Later he served as District Governor in 1952-53 and named as International Counsellor in 1953.
One of the first projects undertaken by the Lake Alfred Lions Club was sponsoring and promoting power boat racing on Lake Alfred. The Club began work on the Valencia Boat Regatta less that 3 months after their charter and lasted for more than 22 years. In the first year alone, 3,500 people attended the regatta. Several other boat races were sponsored by the Lake Alfred Lions, including the 1952 American Power Boat Association's National Outboard Championships in 1952. More than 75 speed records were sent while racing on Lake Alfred through the years.
The first project of the Lake Alfred Lions Club was to build picnic tables and shelters on the shore of Lake Alfred. This was dedicated to the residents on Labor Day, 1947. Their building skills continued when they broke ground on the Lake Alfred Lions Youth Center. With donations from the Boy Scouts, area business leaders, provate donations and a lot of fund raisers by Lions members, nearly $40,000 was raised. The dedication of the building took place on November 8, 1958.
The Lake Alfred Lions Auxiliary was organized in January 1978 with wives and daughters of the Lions members. They had been supporting the Lions for many years but now they were official. The 23 charter members were led by the charter President, Carol Gretencord. In 1985, the members of the Auxiliary were chartered as the Lake Alfred Lioness Club and once again Lioness Carol stepped forward to guide them through the first year. In 1992, the Lioness Club disbanded and several of the Lioness members continued to serve their community by becoming members of the Lake Alfred Lions Club.
