Members of the Rochester Lions Club are shown with banners they sponsored for hometown heroes in downtown Rochester. They are from left David Jackson, John Roberts, Corinna Summers, Katie McCarter, Phil McCarter and Stephen Williams. Photos provided by Jeri Good.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

ROCHESTER — The Rochester Lions Club will mark its 80th anniversary soon.

The club will celebrate that accomplishment at its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 7. It starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Lions’ clubhouse at 102 W. Monticello Road. The district governor overseeing the Rochester Lions Club will be present.

According to information provided by members Phil and Katie McCarter, the club officially started on Feb. 17, 1943.

“A Lioness Club (women’s version) was chartered in April 1989, but no longer exists,” information provided by the McCarters says.

Women originally weren’t allowed to be Lions Clubs members, but that rule was dropped by the overall Lions’ organization in the 1980s.

Katie, the club’s secretary, has been a member for 16 years, with Phil being one for 52. Phil actually has been involved with the Lions Club for 66 years, having joined a club when the couple lived in Converse.

“We serve and we try to do as much as we can, community-wise and internationally,” said Phil of the Lions Club.

“We have what we call the … Lions Club International Foundation, and (the Rochester Lions) give to that every year,” said Katie. “That goes into an international fund, and then when there are flood victims, tornado victims … the Lions help through that.”

More locally, the Rochester Lions Club is involved with improving people’s vision. Lions Club member Dale Landis chairs the Lions’ vision checking committee.

He and Charlotte Miller, whose late husband was a Rochester Lion, help check area preschoolers’ eyesight before each school year, said Katie.

“They probably will check around 300 preschool children in the fall,” said Katie. “Then if they find something wrong with the children’s eyesight, they can recommend (the kids) go to an optometrist.”

The Lions also collect eyeglasses and hearing aids for those in need and work with Leader Dogs for the Blind out of Minnesota to help people get vision assistance dogs.

The Rochester Lions also help build ramps for those with mobility issues, with the club’s current president Dan Copley heading up that committee.

Others in the Rochester Lions Club’s leadership include Jeff Becker, the first vice president and one of the eyeglasses committee’s chairs; Joe McCarter, who handles clubhouse rentals and is second vice president; and treasurer John Roberts.

Also serving as committee heads are: Joe Moore, co-chair for the eyeglasses committee; Corinna Summers, recruiting chair; Jeri Good, publicity chair; and Gail Karas and Stephen Williams, who run the committee for the Lions’ self-serve ice cream trailer.

The trailer is the main way the Rochester Lions fundraise, said Phil.

The Lions have sold ice cream at the Fulton County 4-H Fair, Marshall County Blueberry Festival, Nickel Plate Music & Arts Festival and the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce’s Chili Cookoff and Blacktop Cruisers Car Club’s Red Hot Car Show.

With the monies raised, the Lions give to the Boy Scouts, 4-H, Junior Achievement and The Outlet Youth Center among others. They award four-five college scholarships to high school seniors.

Rochester has 29 members in its club, with new members always welcomed. People need to be 18, but don’t have to live in Rochester to join. Meetings are always 7:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month, save for there being none in January and February.

Phil noted it was the club’s commitment to service why he joined originally in Converse and has continued to stay with the organization in Rochester.

Other members also echoed his reason.

Good said she’s a club member because “I felt like it was a way I could work on a team and serve others.”

Moore said the club is “one way of serving the community.”

“I joined just because I felt like it was a good organization that I could be of service to people through a group, and I feel like there are things that we do that I couldn’t do as an individual,” said Katie.

Donations to the club are welcomed and may be sent to P.O. Box 851, Rochester, IN 46975.

One of the Rochester Lions Club’s members, Virgil Biddinger, is shown in his Lions Club go-kart.

Rochester Lions Club treasurer John Roberts presents a donation to the Rochester High School Manitous choral group.