Group’s Fund-Raisers Helping The Blind & Sick
The Maspeth Lions Club inducted three new members into their club during their June 7 meeting, as Angela Mann, Vinny Allocca and John Considine were all sworn in by Maspeth Lions member and Zone Chairman Joseph Abramaitis.
Mann is a hairstylist and proprietor of Grand Salon & Spa on Grand Avenue, while Allocca and Considine are both retired residents of Middle Village. The club was excited to welcome these new members and continue on with the growth of the Maspeth Lions.
The Lions will need continued growth in membership to carry on their diligent course of activities and programs directed toward raising funds and providing aid to the many charities with whom they work.
Recently, the Lions presented scholarship prizes to several students from local elementary schools who exhibited excellence in community service. The honorees were St. Stanislaus School students Robert Feliciano, Sarah Gallagher, Marie Ivers, Logan Powers and Amy Vesey; St. Adalbert School students Alejandro Moya, Lauren Nina Peralta and Donagh Gallagher; and Niamh Girdusky and Daniel Marchese of Our Lady of Hope School.
Lions club members also participated in the June 10 Maspeth Street Festival, once again raising funds by hosting their sausage and peppers stand in front of Iavarone Bros. meat market. The club used this event to help support contributions to the Guide Dog Foundation and the Wounded Warriors Project for injured veterans returning home from active duty.
The Maspeth Lions thanked Iavarone Bros. for donating the sausage, Frank’s Deli for providing the peppers and onions, 69th Street Distributors for donating the ice and beverage and Rosa’s Pizza for assisting with the bread. Their contributions helped the club maximize the funds that were raised.
The club also made a contribution in support of Scout Master and fellow Maspeth Lion Rusty Valley’s Cub Scouts Pack 327 in their annual Pinewood Derby. More than a million Cub Scouts and adult partners across the U.S. participate in the competition, in which a coach and a scout design, carve, paint, weigh, refine and race a wooden car.
Looking ahead, the Maspeth Lions Club have pledged a monetary donation to the Relay for Life at Juniper
Valley Park in Middle Village scheduled for this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24. The Relay for Life is a walk that goes throughout the night to bring awareness and raise money for cancer research. The event is filled with fun activities, music, food and entertainment.
In this event, the Lions and other participants remember those who have fallen victim to cancer and hope to boost cancer research efforts.
Then on Aug. 5, the Lions will be attending Vision Lions Family Day, an event of the Visions VCB organization. The Maspeth Lions donated to Visions through Khalid Musa, a Maspeth Lion and Visions leader. The program offers an array of services to the blind and visually impaired, including summer camps, learning services and rehabilitation.
The family day will be held at the Visions Center on Blindness in Rockland County, which helps people learn to cope and live with their disability and provide opportunities for independence through creative and enjoyable outlets, orientation to new surroundings, physical activities, group exercises, skill development and support.
As always, the Lions encourage and welcome new members. The club meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at Connolly’s Corner at Grand Avenue and 72nd Street. Meetings are subject to change.
For more information or to apply for membership, call Joseph Papavero at 1-718-651-3535, or stop by one of the Lions Club meetings.
Editor’s note: Joseph A. Papavero is public relations chairperson for the Maspeth Lions Club.
