The Stroudsburg Lions Club Story..
IN THE BEGINNING
On the 22nd day of December of 1924, the Lions Club of Stroudsburg, PA was organized. The club was officially chartered on the 1st of February of 1925. The first officers were: President, Harold C. Edwards (Attorney); Secretary, Colley S. Baker (Editor-Pocono Record); and Treasurer, Carroll D. McDonough. Some of the more prominent Charter Members were: Dr. Carl B. Rosencrans, Charles H. Wetterau, (banker), Penn Stroud Hotel owners, Irving Harrison and Walter Van Brock, Attorney A Greenwald Gearheart, East Stroudsburg Mayor, James A. Loder, (U.S. Navy, Ret.), Carl C. Scholler (Buick Dealership Owner), Dr. Fred J. Baer, Dr. Monroe B. LaBarre, F.Lynn Lance (Insurance), and Lowell H. Cross, (Advertising Mgr. Pocono Record). Lowell H. Cross, the last remaining original Charter Member, died May 15"‘, 1978.
OUR EARLY ACTIVITIES
Community service was key for the Stroudsburg Lions Club. The Lions Club sponsored many tonsillectomies for children in need, which were performed by Dr. Rosencrans. In addition, the club financed eye treatments, solicited eyes, and personally transported donor eyes to Bethlehem and Philadelphia hospitals. Over six hundred pair of eyeglasses were given to needy recipients. The Monroe County Medical Association awarded the first Benjamin Rush Award to the Stroudsburg Lions Club in recognition of their many health related projects. John Regan solicited and twenty-two members each contributed $200, to become Life Members in the Wills Eye Hospital Building expansion project. The club also donated almost $20,000 for an eye magnet, photographic equipment, and an Occutone for the eye room at the hospital. The Conquerors Club, which was made up of members with impaired vision, was organized by the Lions Club. Lions Club members also sponsored and transported visually impaired persons to the Beacon Lodge Camp for the Blind each summer.
THE CHARITABLE WORKS CONTINUE
The Lions Club, along with other service clubs in the area, donated funds after the devastating flood of 1955. These funds were used to construct streets, and water mains in a tract of donated land used to develop housing for flood victims in East Stroudsburg. Monies were also donated in 1972 to Rapid City, SD, and in l977 to Johnstown PA for flood relief efforts. Club members worked to convert two rooms in the Stroudsburg YMCA into a tv room in 1974, and in 1975 renovated a room at the Monroe County Library. In 2003 club members installed a donated chair lift in a home in Lehman Township, enabling a very delighted young lady, unassisted access to two floors in her home for the first time. Throughout the years, the Lions Club of Stroudsburg has purchased training mannequins for the General Ambulance Corps. and equipment for the Bushkill Emergency Corps. A blind person was the recipient of an electric typewriter and residents of Pleasant Valley Manor, Laurel Manor, Stroud Manor were given access to subscriptions to the Pocono Record and the large type Readers Digest.
OUR SPONSORSHIP
The Stroudsburg Lions Club has sponsored many worthy causes and groups. These include a float in the Stroudsburg Sesquicentennial Parade, essay contests, participants in the Pennsylvania All-State Band, Lions Youth Seminar students, handicapped campers at Beacon Lodge, and the Lions Quest Program at local schools. Additional contributions have been made to the Presidential Classrooms, PTA reading projects, Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and the Pennsylvania Lions Sight and Eye Research program. Funding has also gone to the Northeast Lions Eye Bank, the Lions Hearing Conservation and Work for the Deaf. The Lions Club International Foundation, the United Way of Monroe County, the Salvation Anny, Beacon Lodge for the Blind, and the Lions Student Exchange Program have also been recipients of Lions club funding. The Stroudsburg Lions Club raises funds and solicits contributions to ensure that two worthy local families receive Christmas trees and food baskets, to help them celebrate the holiday season. Since 1985, over $60,000 has been donated for eyeglasses assistance.
OUR FUNDRAISING
A variety of fundraising activities have been employed by the Stroudsburg Lions Club to finance their many charitable projects. They have held raffles for a car, a riding lawn mower, turkeys, and wheelbarrows, donated merchandise and auctioned of a color television. The Lions have also presented a country and western show, a rodeo, several circuses, the Second Army Showmobile, and the Endicott Johnson Chorus. Members have sold brooms, coloring books and light bulbs. They also participate in the annual Lions White Cane Day. Since the inception of the Shawnee Balloon Festival, twenty five years ago, a major fundraiser has been the Sausage & Peppers Sandwich stand manned by the members of the Stroudsburg Lions Club. Members also man the stand at other venues at Shawnee Mt., including the annual Rodeo, and the Wurst Fest. Starting in 2009, the ‘famous’ Lions Club Sausage Sandwich Stand now makes an appearance the Jazz Festival in Delaware Water Gap.
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.
