Gravette Lions Club elects new officers, displays awards
GRAVETTE — Members of the Gravette Lions Club elected new officers at their regular meeting May 1 at the Billy V. Hall Senior Activity Center. The slate of officers presented by the nominating committee was elected unanimously. New officers for the 2018-19 year, which begins July 1, are Al Blair, president; Karen Benson, vice-president; Melissa Steele, secretary-treasurer; and Cela Gaytan, Lion tamer/tailtwister.
Bill Mattler, president of the Gravette Lions Club, and Jeff Davis, club secretarytreasurer, attended the 100th Arkansas Lions Club convention April 27-28 in Conway. They reported many agreed it was the best state convention and best attended in many years.
Mattler displayed awards earned by the club at the convention. Gravette Lions Club was presented a Legacy Award bronze plaque in recognition of its legacy project, the mural installed at the south entrance to town, and its human foosball court, now under construction. A patch for the club’s banner was received, one of seven patches presented to clubs which had at least 15 new members during the threeyear Lions Club centennial campaign.
Mattler presented Susan Holland with a 2017 Lions Club International centennial proof silver dollar. The coin was one of three awarded to District 7-I Lions who recruited the most new members during the centennial challenge. Holland recruited and sponsored five new members for the Gravette club.
Davis displayed the plaque he was awarded in recognition for being a Melvin Jones Fellow. The Melvin Jones Fellowship, named for the founder of Lions Clubs, is one of the most prestigious club awards. A donation of $1,000 must be made to the Lions Club International Foundation in order to nominate someone for the fellowship. Davis, in addition to being secretarytreasurer and past president of the Gravette club, is the local club newsletter editor, district 7-I secretary, editor of the district newsletter and a past recipient of the Dr. Jim Fowler Humanitarian Award.
“I am very proud to have been named a Melvin Jones Fellow,” Davis said. “I do work at being a Lion, but I’m not sure my notoriety would be what it is if the Gravette club wasn’t as active and as respected state- and districtwide as it is.”
Work on the club’s human foosball court at Pop Allum Park was suspended last week because of the state convention. Club work days are planned on Saturdays beginning at 10 a.m., weather permitting, until the project is complete. All club members and volunteers are welcome to assist with the project.
The next meeting of the club will be at noon Tuesday, May 15, at the Billy V. Hall Senior Activity Center.