Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Page A-5
Lions Club celebrating 100 years as membership slides
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
The Lions Club, an international
organization that is celebrating their 100th year
of operation, serves communities primarily
by raising funds for those who cannot afford
glasses, hearing aids, or medically necessary
eye surgeries. The Illinois Valley is host to two
clubs—the Illinois Valley Lions which is men
only and the Cave Junction Lions that is multi-
gender. However, both of these organizations
are struggling to maintain a stable member
count.
Steve Lyons, one of the longest lasting
members of the Illinois Valley Lions, said that
the distractions of modern life play a big part in
their struggle to gain new members. “Back in
the older days, there were over 100 members;
they had to limit the membership of the club. It
was popular; we didn’t have VCRs and video
games. It was more of a community social
thing.” He continued on by explaining that
the “older days” of the Illinois Valley Lions
went all the way back to 1948, the year Cave
Junction became a city and the year the local
club was founded.”
When Lyons joined 25 years ago he
estimated that they had around 45 members.
Today there are around 30. They have hovered
around the first number until the last five
years when membership started to slide. Lyons
reported that they are slowly losing members
due to the “old timers” passing away and
people having kids. Between working and
caring for their children many members no
longer have time left for the club.
Lyons, referring to their annual Tuff
Truck and Labor Day Festival said, “We gave
away the breakfast to the Mason’s because
we didn’t have enough people to handle it
anymore,” and continued about their short
handedness with, “And now the American
Legion Auxiliary comes in and does bingo
after the Mason’s get done with breakfast in the
pavilion building.” Furthermore, he added that
it takes a lot of members to put on the “biggest
show in town.”
It can be assumed if membership slides
far enough that this event’s future may be in
jeopardy. Lyons added that this year the ticket
count for their Labor Day motorcycle raffle
was increased by 100 because they paid a lot
more than the usual for a custom, rather than
stock, Harley Davidson Motorcycle.
Lyons, who is distancing himself from the
club due to other engagements, said in closing
that, “We’ve asked the younger guys to step up.
About six of us have been president every year.
Now we’re letting some of the younger guys
come up and take more of a leadership role.
We’ve got to prepare the next generation for
being the leader.”
Harry Johnson, the current president
of the Cave Junction Lion’s Club, shared a
somewhat similar view as to why the club
is having difficulty stabilizing their member
count. “There’s no definitive answer. My guess
is that the younger crowd, younger meaning
21-45, just aren’t going out and joining service
clubs like the Elks and the Masons and the
Lions and all the different ones out there. The
economy nowadays—they’re just so busy.
Most families, the husband and wife sometimes
work two jobs. When you get done with those
two jobs you just don’t have time to be going
to a meeting. I understand completely but it is
hurting membership in a lot of these clubs.”
“The Valley’s growing,” Johnson said
about what could be done about declining
membership, “You see a lot of new businesses
coming into the Valley and what we need to
do is to get out and talk to the ownership of
these businesses and convince them that they
should come out and be part of the Valley.” He
further explained that business owners could
get new customers through direct or indirect
partnerships with people in the area formed in
the Lions Club.
The Cave Junction Lions are, like
their Illinois Valley brethren, host to many
fundraisers but the biggest ones on their roster
are the “Classic Custom Car Show” in June
and the “Turkey Bingo” event in November.
Unfortunately, Johnson and his wife
will be stepping down from their posts as
president and treasurer soon and will leave
the organization at only five members strong.
This is down from 17 which was the peak
membership count while Johnson has been in
the club.
If you are interested in joining the Illinois
Valley Lions Club you can call Steve Lyons at
541-287-0290 or if you wish to join the Cave
Junction Lions email cjlions@frontier.com for
more information. Joining the club generally
costs $69 annually.
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
Steve Lyons calls the 2015 Harley
raffle winner on Labor Day.
Winding Trails: by Al Hobart
Thursday, March 23, 1967
Illinois Valley News
Jack Frost– Cross Country
Ski Races
There’s one thing about that old
joker, Jack Frost – you can almost
always depend on him pulling the
same hoary old joke about this
time every year; first he makes
the apparently weary gesture of
gathering up his wintry trappings
and demurely retiring to the North,
from whence he came.
Suddenly summer seems to
be upon us. The days are sunny and
unseasonably warm. Everybody
rejoices at the early retreat of Old
Man Winter – everyone, that is,
except those who are enjoying
winter sports. Early flowers are
blooming all over the place. The
scratching and digging to get at the
buried wheat. They’ll soon be up on
the porch, where the little juncos, or
snowbirds, are chittering and stuffing
their tiny crops with chickfeed.
If this new snowfall should
be followed by some cold weather
I’ll have some good skiing close
to home – a pleasure that has been
denied me so far this winter. But I
can’t complain – I‘ve had lots of
good skiing in the Cascades with
my friends, and several real lively
sessions at Lake of the Woods,
where our Oregon Nordic Ski Club
has been holding racing events this
winter.
Last Sunday we held our last
official cross-country ski races for
the season, and it was one of our best
and biggest such events. Contestants
and visitors came from as far away
as Washington, Utah, and Colorado,
and a small group even came
the startling transformation. The
rain that had been hammering on
my metal roof seemed suddenly to
cease. I reached over to the back
of any tank and pulled the spare
blanket over me. Then I heard the
familiar plunk, thud, as the rapidly
accumulating snow tumbled from
the edge of the roof. With part of
my heart breaking for those who
were cheering the arrival of summer,
and part rejoicing at the new turn of
events, I snuggled contentedly down
under the covers, closed my eyes,
buckled on my new racers and went
skiing happily off into Dreamland.
Now, as I sit toasting by my
fireside, it is snowing heavily
outside, has been snowing without
let-up all morning. I just looked out
the front window at the bird-feeder
“gauge” and noted that there is 6 or
7 inches of new snow piled on it. A
pair of mountain quail are out there
earth becomes so dry that worried
householders are beginning to water
their treasured outdoor plants. Then
all at once great cloud masses begin
to roll across the sky, and finally the
welcome rain starts to fall. The off-
season mini-drought is ended.
And right then, if you are
listening carefully, you’ll hear that
eerie rippling sound that resembles
muffled laughter coming from the
tumbling clouds. The temperature
falls. The raindrops puff up like
popcorn and float down to blanket
the ground and everything on it
with a thick layer of new snow. That
sneaky old prankster has come back,
shrieking with frosty laughter.
Yesterday, after a rather
prolonged and flowery period of
pseudo-summer, the rain began,
starting out as scattered showers.
Then it finally settled down to
business, and during the night came
down from Canada to take part in
this particular event, making it an
international affair.
Those Norwegians from
Canada and Seattle (all originally
from Norway) were of course among
the top trophy winners. In order to
beat one of those fellows you need to
have stepped right out of your cradle
onto a pair of skis. Just to watch
them perform is a real pleasure.
The lone representative
from Packers Gulch at the meet
strutted proudly off with his second
pretty, shiny 2nd place trophy of the
season tucked under his arm.
From now on our skiing
will be ski-touring, ski-picnicking,
and just playing around up where
the snow is ready and waiting for
us – right up to the time when the
old gentleman heads north for real,
and cuts the snow from under us til
winter comes again.
2 WEEK SPECIAL
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$
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2
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Vegetarian Grill Menu
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4
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49
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2
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1
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Water
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Diestel Turkey Chunks .........
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2 liters 1907
Chips
$
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Reg. $2.39 ea.
Asstd. Epic
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Bunch Carrots .................. $
Groceries
59
$
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Reg. 89¢ lb.
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$ 29
8
Beeler’s
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Diestel Honey Turkey,
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Raw Almonds ..............
Macaroni
Salad
Salad Case
Mayo, mustard, onion,
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Hail Merry Tarts
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100% Organic.
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Dried Cranberries ..............
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Asstd. flavors, lemon,
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coconut, chocolate mint &
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