“We Serve”

                                                     

Events of the past month

May 5     Noon.  We met for the annual Law Day with Stillwater Rotary. This combined meeting become an annual tradition 60 years ago.  The speaker was Political  Science Professor, David Schultz from Hamline University. He spoke on “American Democracy in the Age of Trump”. 

 

May 19    Noon Family Means

Annual meeting.  We summarized activities and finances of the club during the past year.  We honored a Helen Keller Award to Don Grund and a Melvin Jone Award to Thomas Hollatz.  We elected officers, and made plans for the future.

 

Presentation of Helen Keller Awards 

Helen Keller Awards are given to honor those who have distinguished themselves on behalf of the Lions Club. A $1,000 donation to the Minnesota Lions Vision Foundation (for the Minnesota Lions Eye Bank, the Lions Children’s Eye Clinic, the MAC Center, the Minnesota Lions Eye Surgery Center, or other Vision Foundation projects) allows the club to present a Helen Keller Award. The award recipient receives a beautiful plaque and pin, and the recipient’s name is displayed on a Helen Keller board in the University of Minnesota’s Eye Clinic. 

This years award goes to Lion Donald Grund:

Don has been a Lion since 2018.  His sponsor was Gene Kelly.  Don has willingly volunteered for nearly all of our club events in recent years.  He worked for Webb Publishing for many years and is now works part time selling tickets at the Xcel Center.

 

Presentation of Melvin Jones Fellow Award

Melvin Jones Fellow Awards was founded to recognize the founder of Lions Clubs International.  

Stillwater Lions members who have received this award include Tom Warth, John Bourdaghs, John Baird Howard Albertson, Karl Neumeier, and Harold Meissner, and Paul Spilseth

 

This year’s award goes to Lion Thomas Hollatz. Tom has been a loyal Lion since 1976 (50 years).  He graduated from the University of Iowa, worked for Thrivent Financial, retired and moved here from Redwood Falls 9 years ago.  He and his wife, Sharon, live in Stillwater.   He has ably served the club as President for several years.

 

Coming Events

June 2        Noon Family Means.  Scholarship winners are invited to this meeting.  There will also be a photo show of historical Lion’s activities.

 

Come and greet our 2026 Scholarship Award Winners at next Tuesday’s luncheon meeting! You will love meeting Ivy Agen and Lydia Ostrander - outstanding scholars, engaging citizens, committed volunteers, athletes, and generally pleasant young women. Additionally, one is a musician; the other has an interest in the arts that lean to sculpture and jewelry. Their diversity of talents makes them ideal Lions Club Scholars! Each has dealt with unanticipated surprises and hardships which have perhaps stiffened their resolve to make a difference in college and beyond. They may - or may not - talk about these at our luncheon together, but each wrote movingly about their challenges in their scholarship applications.

I enjoyed meeting the two of them, and I am sure you will as well.  

Jim McKinney presented the awards on May 20 at the High School.

 

 

June 16        6 PM  Picnic Autumn Hills west of Boutwell’s Landing

 

Schedule for the next 3 months:

July 7         Noon Family Means

July 21         Picnic

August 4    Noon Family Means

August 21     Picnic

Sept 1        Noon Family Means

Sept 15        Picnic Lakeside Park, Bayport