Join Fairfax Lions and guests, Wednesday, June 14th, for our monthly fund raising dinner at The Auld Shebeen restaurant, 3971 Chainbridge Rd, Fairfax, VA 22030.  This is a charity fund raiser!

Meet at 6:30 pm for Happy Hour prices on beverages & appetizers. Ask to “Sit with the Lions Group” in the Yeats Library dining room. Order from regular menu; separate checks; pay your own bill.

The Auld Shebeen donates 15% of what we spend to Fairfax Lions Charities – to help folks in our community!  Charity funds raised at this event enable us to purchase new eyeglasses for folks in our community who need corrective glasses but cannot afford to pay for them.

Parking: Old Town Plaza city garage, 3955 Chain Bridge Rd (access from Rte 123/Chain Bridge Rd or University Dr). Take elevator to 4th level, walk past plaza shops, cross North St at the light to The Auld Shebeen.

No reservations necessary. Questions:  leave a comment (click on Leave a comment  ), or send an email to…fairfaxlions@cox.net

Join us at…

http://www.theauldshebeenva.com/new/

Fairfax Lions conducted vision screening as part of the Fairfax City Chocolate Lover’s Festival on Feb 4.  79 people were screened, using portable SPOT equipment. Most of the 79 were children, including two pairs of twins.  A total of 11, or 14%, were referred to an optometrist for a complete exam.

A Channel 12 camera crew filmed the vision screening as part of other activites.  It aired on Channel 12 (Fairfax City channel) on Feb 15 at 2PM and 6PM each day. This link is to a 30+ minute video; the Lions vision screening starts at about the 7:35 minutes mark:

https://www.youtube.com/user/cityoffairfaxva

These events are special because they involve lots of families. Parents want young children screened, and find they are amazed with the technology and also want to be screened. The biggest kudos came from adults and teenagers who realized that we could screen their vision while they are wearing glasses or contacts, and advise them if the prescription needs to be updated.  Our thanks to Fairfax City for hosting the event!

On February 12th, Fairfax Lions Club hosted its annual James Bland Music Contest.  Lions Clubs across Virginia run local contests to promote cultural and educational opportunities for musically talented young people (primarily of high school age). Winners compete to advance to State level contests. At State level, music scholarships are awarded to the top twelve finalists.

Ten pianists and three vocalists competed onFeb 12th. The instrumental winner was pianist Alexander Suh, an 8th grader at Lake Braddock Middle School, who performed “L’alouette (The Lark)” by Balakirev. The vocal winner was soprano Kirsten Tierney, a 7th grader at Longfellow Middle School, who sang “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” by Roger Quilter.   Alexander and Kirsten will compete in the Region III Bland Music Contest on Tuesday, March 14.

Contestants & Bland Chairperson Lion Jeff Root

Vocal contestants with judges

Each year, Lions around the world hold a contest for young persons to create artwork celebrating peace. The art products are called “Peace Posters.” In December, Lion Jeff Root introduced the Fairfax Lions Club 2017 Peace Poster contest winner: 7th grader Hyesoon Lee of Rocky Run Middle School. Hyesoon titled her artwork “Singing the Peace.” For the award presentation – at a Fairfax Lions Club dinner meeting in December  – Hyesoon was accompanied by her mom, little brother, and Rocky Run art teacher Linda Ledbetter. (Linda Ledbetter has sponsored many poster winners for our Club.)

“Singing the Peace” 2017 Peace Poster Winner

Lion Jeff Root presents award for winning Peace Poster

Hyesoon Lee and Singing the Peace” poster (one of 600,000 posters submitted to Lions Clubs world-wide)

This summer, Fairfax Lions began rennovating a cabin at the Northern Virginia LionsYouth Camp. Exterior work was completed in October, and recent work is interior rennovation. Just completed is interior painting. The ceiling is now white, walls are ‘battleship gray’ and trim is charcoal gray. We applied three coats of primer and two top coats to assure good coverage.

New Cabin Interior: Stain-free, Sparkling White Ceiling & Grey Walls

Next up is electrical upgrade (lights, electric conduit, outlets, heaters) and installation of floor covering – for completion in December. THANK YOU Club Members for your work to make this happen – it is a wonderful service to support local youth groups using the camp.

The purpose of the Camp is to provide camping facilities to any youth group accompanied by adult leaders and supervisors. The Camp Site is located on a mountain west of the Town of Boyce and the Appalachian Trail and just east of the Shenandoah River in Clarke County, Virginia.
For more information, see: Lions Youth Camp

On November 22nd, 25 local area families in need of food assistance received all the ingredients for a nutritious Thanksgiving dinner as a result of this year’s Thanksgiving Food Basket Delivery. The baskets included a frozen turkey (10 – 13 lbs.), cans of corn and green beans, a can of cranberry sauce, a box of Bisquick mix, a box of stuffing mix, 5 lbs. potatoes, 1 lb. carrots, a bag of FHLC Citrus Sale oranges, a cake mix and frosting.

Going hungry is an unfortunate reality for many people in Fairfax County. According to statistics from the national hunger awareness organization Feeding America, more than 76,000 residents in the Fairfax County area are “food insecure,” meaning they do not know where their next meal will come from.

That’s what we Lions do to meet a need within our community – WE SERVE!!