The Lions Club of St. Andrew Central

BRIEF HISTORY

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization, comprising of over 1.3 million members in more than 45,000 clubs worldwide. Lionism was introduced to Jamaica in 1965 with the Charter of the first Lions Club in Kingston.  Today, there are twenty-seven Lions Clubs, some of whom sponsor Leo Clubs (the youth arm of Lions) in Jamaica providing voluntary service.

The Lions Club of St. Andrew Central (SAC) was chartered on February 12, 1992 with the newly installed Charter President, Lion Carmen Chen, PMJF, receiving the Charger Document from the then District Governor Ronald Josephs, MJF on March 7, 1992.

The SAC Lions Club has gone from strength to strength since 1992, winning several prestigious awards each year. The Club has also produced outstanding leaders in the Lionistic movement, including Zone and Region Chairpersons, some of whom currently hold District positions. Lions have participated in almost all local, regional, district and international events including meetings and conventions.

The Club sponsors 2 alpha Leo Clubs: The Gaynstead High School and Marymount High School, located in Kingston and St. Ann respectively. Under the leadership of their Leo Advisors, the Leos have participated in Planting of trees, assisting in Beach Cleanups, helping the elderly, and even done presentations in Project writing to gain skills.

AREAS OF FOCUS:

In the last few years, the LCI has encouraged Clubs to focus their energies and resources on 5 Global Themes: Hunger, Environment, Diabetes, Vision and Childhood Cancer. Our SAC Lions have participated in projects in all 5 areas, with most of our projects and activities centered around Hunger, Diabetes and Vision.

HUNGER

With the recent pandemic, COVID-19, the club has focused most of its time and energies into Hunger. In collaboration with the Church of St. Margaret’s, the club supplies Care Packages containing food staples and toiletries to over 100 people in need each month, as well as donates food and other packages to other food distribution centers.

Vegetable gardens have also been established over the years which related directly to the Ministry of Agriculture’s theme of “Eat what you grow. Grow what you eat”. Vegetable gardens were established Old Age homes and included cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, pak choi, lettuce, onion, sorrel and carrots to name a few. Several SAC members also practiced ‘Backyard gardening’, producing a wide array of vegetables and spices, which they all shared amongst each other.

DIABETES AND VISION

The Club has partnered with other Lions and Rotary Clubs, Organizations and Entities, Schools, Churches, and the Jamaica Society for the Blind in providing Vision Screening, Blood Sugar & Blood Pressure testing at several health fairs in various communities within the Kingston and St. Andrew area.

ENVIRONMENT

The Club is seriously concerned about the environment and has participated in several clean-up campaigns such as the Palisadoes Beach Clean-up Project (a yearly venture) and especially after natural disasters such as hurricanes.  It has also participated in other projects by providing garbage bins for schools and tree planting projects.

CHILDHOOD CANCER

As part of the push on Pediatric Cancer, the Club invited a consultant to give a presentation on Pediatric Cancer.

TECHNOLOGY

In keeping with technology, SAC is very active on social media including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We even have WhatsApp groups. Ecards are also sent to members celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. For our members not on social media or not well, calls and visits are made.

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.