We Serve: The Avon Lions Club and Community Service
Nevin’s Medical Loan Closet
During the late 1960’s, a Lions club member was approached by someone in the Avon Community and asked if the Lions Club could help them in obtaining a wheelchair. In turn the Avon Club purchased a used wheelchair and gave it to the individual with the understanding that it be returned when they did not need it anymore.
During this period of time many community members had used medical equipment around their homes that were donated to the Lions Club: crutches, canes, potty chairs, etc. Thus was born the Avon Medical Loan Closet. For many years, Mrs. Howland of East Avon managed the closet, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Bill Nevin who volunteered to run run the effort for over 20 years.
The loan closet grew by leaps and bounds, not only in equipment, but also financially through donations from thankful community members. Eventually, Lion Rob Schweitzer worked with the Nevins to transition the effort to an Avon Lions Club service project. A grant from Lions International funded the construction of new steel building on Farmers Road and on July 28, 2005, the Avon Lions Club dedicated their new building as Nevin’s Loan Closet. Today, the Avon Lions Club continues to manage donations and distribution of medical equipment to members of the Avon community
LIONS SEE Project
Lions SEE( screening eyes early) is an official project of the Lions Clubs of New York and Bermuda. Lions Clubs in other states work directly with Lions Kidsight USA.
The Avon Lions Club SEE team members are Don Mastin, Chairperson, Marcia Andres (of the Avon Lioness Club), co-chair, Paul Andress and Herb Jones. We use a Welch Allyn (Spot) vision screener which we call a camera. The camera automatically takes a picture of the child’s eyes when we are at the correct distance from the child and indicates whether the child’s eyes are ok or whether the child should be referred to an eye doctor.. Avon shares a camera with five other clubs in our district. We do not take a picture of the child for privacy reasons. If the family of the child can not afford an eye exam or eye glasses, the Avon Lions Club will pay for them.
We screen pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children at the Avon primary school, at the Avon Saint Agnus school, at the two Avon Nursery schools, at the York primary school and the Geneseo primary school. This includes approximately 200 children. We are considering expanding in 2019 to include another nursery school in Avon and the Caledonia primary school.
Camp Abilities
Camp Abilities is a developmental sports camp for children who are visually impaired, blind, or deaf-blind. It was started by Dr Lauren Lieberman at SUNY-Brockport twelve years ago,
Camp Abilities Brockport is a one-week educational sports camp for children and teens who are blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind. The camp is set up to provide a one-on-one instructional situation for each person, which is often on the contrary to other camps designed for people with visual impairments. Camp counselors are pooled from physical education and special education undergraduate and graduate programs across the U.S., and overseas. Participants have participate in accessible sports and recreational activities and every child is paired one-to-one with a student who is training to teach kids with visual impairments. The program conducts also research on physical fitness, nutrition, inclusion, and intervention studies.
For many years, the Avon Lions Club and Lionesses have cooked and served pasta for over campers and staff. The pasta is donated by Barilla Pasta located in Avon, NY. The lions purchase the meal consisting of rigatoni, sliced Italian bread, salad and dessert.
To find out more head over to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CampAbilitiesBrockportNY/
Camp Badger
The Avon Lions Club has “adopted” the Infirmary at Camp Badger as one of their service projects.
Founded in 1939, Camp Badger is part of the Empire State Speech and Hearing Clinic, Inc., a non-profit special education summer school operated as a New York State Lions Club Project. Located on 420 acres of beautiful woodlands with a man-made lake, the ESSHC provides a living and learning experience uninhibited by traditional school buildings and classrooms..
The ESSHC is centrally located in upstate New York, convenient to Ithaca, Binghamton, Elmira, and Syracuse. Students who attend the ESSHC come from school districts throughout the state. Out-of-state students are also welcome to attend..
Children reside in rustic cabins which house 6 to 10 students and are equipped with electricity. Modern bathroom and shower facilities are located near the cabin areas. Four counselors/teacher aides are assigned to each cabin to share the responsibility of 24-hour supervision.
The Avon Lions Club performs various projects to maintain the infirmary. Shown below is a slide show of some of the Avon Lions working at the camp and clinic.
Other Community Projects
