Youngstown Lions mark 95 years of helping blind, needy

By SEAN BARRON

news@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Parker McHenry’s introduction to joining the local Lions Club may have been a bit routine, but his longtime association with the organization has been anything but uneventful.

“I joined because my boss made me,” the Austintown man recalled with laughter, referring to when he worked for Union National Bank and became part of the Youngstown Lions Club in 1970.

Forty-five years later, McHenry continues to be proud of his tenure with the club, which includes having served as its president in 1975.

The retired banker also was among about 30 fellow Lions members who attended a luncheon Thursday at the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown, to celebrate the organization’s 95th anniversary.

The 50-member local Lions Club was chartered Oct. 11, 1920, and has focused on providing services to people who are blind as well as those in need, donating thousands of dollars to nonprofit organizations and giving away thousands of pairs of eyeglasses, noted Atty. Jerry Bryan, club historian.

“Our club was instrumental in getting that adopted in 1925,” Bryan said of the effort to assist those who are blind. “And it’s been that way ever since.”

McHenry found it a little difficult to come up with specific aspects of his 45 years with the organization for which he’s most proud, but said that his greatest gratification comes from the club’s commitment toward helping those in need. That includes an annual Christmas party at which children with various challenges receive one of three gifts of their choice, he explained.

Another highlight is the Lions Club’s yearly Turtle Derby, which also raises money for those in need, McHenry continued, noting that last June’s event in Lowellville brought in close to $30,000, 90 percent of which stayed in the Mahoning Valley.

McHenry added that he’s seen a dramatic drop in the number of children who are blind, thanks in part to advanced technology and the club’s efforts.

“Eye research is so good now that there’s a lot less sightless people than there used to be,” he said, adding he plans to continue to assist those in need and work toward increasing the club’s membership.

When it began, the Youngstown chapter was the 12th such organization in Ohio and had 59 members that met each Thursday for lunch, a tradition the club continues to uphold, Bryan explained.

Early on, the Lions Club also set up a facility at The Rayen School for those who are blind, established the area’s first class for such children in 1926 in the Youngstown city schools, and assisted the Society for the Blind organization with buying its first building on Bryson Street on the North Side, he said.

“We’ve been providing free eyeglasses to children since 1922, and we still do it to this day,” he added.

During the luncheon, Bryan gave a history of the organization, noting that Helen Keller, the deaf and blind American author, political activist and lecturer, spoke to a convention in 1925 at Cedar Point in Sandusky. In 1968, the Lions Club International Foundation was established, and more than $826 million in grants had been given, he said.

Many attendees also enjoyed looking at a series of Vindicator articles that detailed many of the club’s accomplishments over the years.

Making additional remarks were George Kolesar, club president; and Bill Lawson, the Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s executive director, who also conducted a tour of the Tyler Center.