On Feb 28, at the annual Scholarship Lunch of the Virginia Lions Eye Institute Foundation, scholarship grant checks were presented. Fairfax Lions Club sponsored three grant awardees.

You are invited to a reception to honor recipients of the 2026 Student Peace Awards for their achievements. 3:30pm, SUNDAY, March 1, 2026, Sherwood Community Center, 3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax, VA  22030. RSVP to Margaret Fisher  1margaret.e.fisher@gmail.com   703.244.9174

Winner of Fairfax Lions Club 2026 “Peace Poster” contest, Jimena Villatorro of Rocky Run Middle School, will be recognized. Her poster is below:

Congratulations to Jimena on her accomplishment!

Lions Joe Rovansek, Diana Amsbaugh, Bill Szymanski, Tom Simpson, and Mike Greeley represented our Club conducting vision & hearing screening at Saint Luke School in McLean, VA. 

Afterwards, we received this email from the school nurse: Good afternoon, We had a fantastic group of Lions Club volunteers at Saint Luke Catholic School for hearing and vision screenings. In total, 37 students were screened for both hearing and vision (24 3rd graders and 13 7th graders). Of those, 1 student was referred for vision in 3rd grade and 1 student was referred for vision in 7th grade. Everybody who was screened for hearing passed the test! Thank you so much for helping me coordinate all of this, and I hope to meet you in person next year! Blessings, (School Nurse)

Photos below: Lions screening team and school nurse; Lion Diana operating hearing screening console

On February 15, Fairfax Lions Club held the annual “James Bland Music Contest” for area youth. Four vocalists and eight instrumentalists competed. Both 1st & 2nd place vocalists and instrumentalists each received cash awards. The top vocalist and instrumentalist advance to Lions District 24-L competition at the Lyceum in Old Town, Alexandria, Sunday, March 29.

1st Place Instrumentalist: Justin Lee, 14, 8^th grader at Luther Jackson Middle School.  Cello.  Composition:  Zigeunerweisen op. 20 by Pablo de Sarasate. 

1st Place Vocalist: Heidi Hager, 15, 10^th grade – Oakton High School.  Soprano.  Composition:  Deh Vieni, non tardar by W. A. Mozart.

2nd Place Instrumentalist: Connor Kim, 14, 9^th grader at Centreville High School.  Piano.  Composition:  Piano sonata No. 2, Movement 1 by S. Rachmaninoff.  

2nd Place Vocalist: Kiara Brunner, 14, 8^th grader at Homeschool.  Mezzo Soprano.  Composition:  I Could Have Danced All Night  by Lerner and Loewe  

Other participating contestants…

Wroten Mcquirter, 15, 10^th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  Piano.  Composition:  Transcendental Etude No. 4   by Franz Liszt.

Sophie Li, 14, 9^th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  Flute. Composition:  Danse de la chevre by Arthur Honegger. 

Andrew Lam, 14, 9^th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  Viola.  Composition:  Viola Concerto, 1^st Movement by W. Walton.

James Abiden, 15, 10^th grader at Trinity Christian School.  Tenor.  Composition:  O’del mio amato ben by Stefano Donaudy.

Geneva Brunner, 11, 5^th grader at Homeschool.  Piano.  Composition:  Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum by Claude Debussy.  

Benjamina Bolger, 11, 5^th grader at Homeschool.  Violin.  Composition:  Violin concerto No 1, Op. 6, 1^st movement by Niccolo Paganini.

Naomi Rosner, 14, 8^th grader at Kilmer Middle School.  Soprano.  Composition:  Lydia  by Gabriel Faure.

Michael Nguyen, 11, 5^th grader at Canterbury Elementary School.  Piano.  Composition:  Nocturne in c minor op 48 no. 1 by Frederic Chopin.

The Lions State Music Contest Finals are in Bristol, VA on Friday, May 29 where the VA Association of Lions Clubs will award 12 scholarships totaling $18,000.

Who was James Bland? James A. Bland composed over seven hundred American folk songs.  His song, “Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny,” is the former VA state song.  To learn more about James Bland and how his music inspired Lions Clubs of Virginia to sponsor the James A. Bland Music Scholarship Competition, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Bland.

One purpose of the Fairfax Inter-Service Club Council (ISCC) is to share information about service club operations.  At the Feb 4th ISCC meeting, Lion Treasurer Mike Rumberg gave a great talk about technology useful for service club financials.

Lion Mike spoke about the evolution (and pros & cons) in Fairfax Lions Club financials:

• From entirely manual pen and paper Club records, mailing member invoices with members mailing payment checks, and all manual recording of cash/check charity sales; 
• To EXCEL electronic data records;
• To QUICKBOOKS for all Club financials for both charity and admin accounts, to invoice members, and to generate tax reports;  
• To SQUARE for charity fund raising sales (using SQUARE hardware to accept customer credit card payments, in person or on-line);
• And finally, to our current progress using ZEFFY