The Lioness Club of Calvert County came into being in March of 1974 and was composed of 20 wives of Lions club members. These ladies were joined by four members of the Forestville Lionets, who helped set up the framework of the organization. The name "Calvert Lions' Pride" was chosen. Very shortly thereafter, our first club president, Helen Ireland, was requested to assist in the formation of a Lioness Club by the Twin Beaches Lions Club and we subsequently sponsored the Twin Beaches Lioness Club. On April 4, 1977, our club was recognized and certified by the International Association of Lions Clubs and was then designated "The Lioness Club of Calvert County."
The purpose of this organization is to sustain interest in and enthusiasm for Lionism, to espouse group enjoyment among the members and to sponsor civic activities. The purpose continues to this day. Two of our members, Sharon Stewart and Nancy Watson have served District 22-C as it's Lioness Chairman.
The Lioness Club of Calvert County, the one remaining Lioness Club in District 22-C celebrated it's 25th anniversary on May 13, 2002. Our club currently has 27 members.
During the Lions year 2001-2002, our members volunteered 1750 hours of service, made visitations to 17 Lions clubs and held our annual money tree raffle, a pretty package auction and other fund raising activities. We made donations to the following organizations within Calvert County: Project Echo Homeless Shelter; Calvert County Rescue Dive Team; Calvert County Senior Center; CARC; Hospice; Bay Side Blue Soft Ball Team; Relay for Life; SMILE; Meals on Wheels, the Hospice Festival of Trees; and, the Diabectic Association. We also donated to Multiple District 22 and District 22-C activities such as the District's Youth Honor Band, Lions Camp Merrick, the District's Eye and Tissue Bank and the Lions Low Vision Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. We also made a contribution to the Leader Dog For The Blind. We donated and collected canned goods and paper items for people in need within our County and we collected and donated toys for needy children in the county that were distributed during Easter.
As in past years, we assisted the Calvert County Lions Club in their blood drives, we helped man the County's Emergency Command Center during the recent killer tornado that hit our area, we worked in the District 22-C Mobile Health Unit at the Calvert County Fair and at other locations in the County. We asssisted the Lions Club at several pre-school vision screening and assisted them at their recent successful Golf Tournament.
During the past year, our Lioness attended the Lions Clubs International Convention in Indianapolis, the USA/Canada Lions Leadership forum in Halifax, Canada and the Multiple District 22 convention in Ocean
City.
Our club met and exceeded the requirements for the District 22-C Five Star Award and was presented the "The District Governor's Exceptional Club Award."
The Lioness Club of Calvert County is proud to remain a Lioness Club and we continue to help make our community a better place and we do make a difference.
