Westport Lions Roar
By Lion Bob Reddick
The Westport Lions Club will always welcome new members. We are currently looking at various membership types to determine if they would encourage people to join our club.
One of the ways to encourage growth is to sponsor a Leo Club. There are two tracks of the Leo Club Program. Alpha Leo clubs are those that consist of members between 12 and 18 years of age. Omega Leo clubs are those that consist of members between 18 and 30 years of age.
Lion Jim Garaver, the baseball coach of Abington High School in Pennsylvania founded the first Leo club in 1957. The club created an acronym LEO for: Leadership, Equality, and Opportunity. The word equality was later changed to experience.
The Leos have grown from this initial club to an organization of over 177,000 Leos in 7,100 clubs in 147 countries. Active Leos serve over three million people each year and completed 24,038 recorded projects last year.
Leo clubs are a youth organization of Lions Clubs International. Leo clubs encourage youths to develop leadership qualities by participating in social service activities. The Leos are responsible for planning and implementing their own activities, financing their projects and maintaining the smooth operation of the club.
They can conduct projects with another Leo club, the sponsoring Lions club, or with an outside organization. Leos have their own club officers and constitution.
The Lions’ role is to offer support, guidance and counsel. The Leo club advisor, who must be a member of the sponsoring Lions club serves as the chief liaison between the Leos and Lions club. Their duties include offering constructive suggestions to the Leos, reporting on their activities to the Lions club and promoting a cooperative relationship between the two clubs.
Together, Leos and Lions form a powerful partnership, one of mutual respect, where Leos learn the power of action, where Lions learn innovative insights from Leos, and Leos gain experience and learn strategies for serving people.
If you are a person that enjoys getting things done, a co-ed collaborating environment, leadership opportunities, recognition for your accomplishments and mentors who can guide you, then the Leos are for you.
Westport Lions Club 