Founders Charles Perkins and Norman Schmidt honored

To meet with a handful of members of the Harvard Lions Club is to understand that this group not only does a tremendous amount of good work in the community, but they have a fabulous time doing it. Gathered around a coffee shop table with club members Bill Hazel, Ken Mudgett, Chris Ryan, Bruce Dolimount, and Rick Veltri, a lively interview ensued as the men talked about the club’s 50-year history and plans for a celebration dinner at the Sterling Country Club Friday, June 8. At the top of the discussion was the list of members to be honored at the event, which included Charles “Charlie” Perkins and Norman Schmidt as recipients of the 50 Years Award for their roles as charter members. Perkins also accepted the Lifetime Membership Award from club President Ed Gordon.

Paul Johnston, left, accepts the Humanitarian Award from Bruce Dolimount. (Courtesy photo)

Founded in 1957, the Harvard Lions Club has a long history of community involvement in Harvard. The membership, which now numbers around 50, has an active focus on philanthropies concerned with sight, hearing, and diabetes. To support research, education, and community outreach in these areas, members of the club have undertaken an astonishingly wide variety of fundraising activities over the years. In the 1960s, Mudgett said, the club sponsored concerts by the Worcester Chapter of Barbershoppers, as well as shows by the Mill Brothers Three-Ring Circus. He also thought that townspeople might remember the very popular Wachusett Kennel Club dog show from the 1970s. Today, Veltri said, the Fall Festival and the fruit sale are the club’s two major fundraising events. Plans are underway to make this year’s Fall Festival the best ever, Ryan said.

The club meets in the evening on the second and fourth Thursday of every month from September through June, and is part of a much larger international organization—1.3 million members—founded in 1917. Traditionally, the club is known for its efforts to help the blind and visually impaired. This legacy is the result of a speech Helen Keller gave to the International Convention of the Lions Club International in 1925, Mudgett explained. The leadership of that time was so inspired by her talk, they made a commitment to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness,” according to the offical website of Lions Club International. While the Harvard chapter of the club contributes funding to the umbrella organization, they have a strong commitment to the town, Veltri said. To this end, the club bought Optilec machines for helping visually impaired students at Bromfield and the elementary school, and periodically sponsors a visit by the Sightmobile. The Sightmobile offers vision and glaucoma testing, blood pressure and diabetes checks, and hearing screening.

Bill Hazel and President Ed Gordon present the Lions Club Lifetime Membership Award to Charlie Perkins. (Courtesy photo)

Lions Club members have a lot of visibility in town, taking on volunteer roles at every event, from the Fourth of July road race to the Columbus Day flea market. ”We’re focusing as much as we can on our home community,” Veltri said. All of the men noted that a lot of the work they do goes on quietly behind the scenes. Some of the members are skilled at carpentry, and have made wheelchair-accessible ramps for a number of Harvard homes, while others are active connecting children with special health needs with the proper resources. What is most amazing about their chapter, Hazel said, is the range of talent within the group, and how many different ways they are able to contribute to the town.

Making that contribution—and the camaraderie they enjoy while doing just about anything together—are the best things about the Lions Club, all agreed. “Everything we raise goes back to charity,” Dolimount said. “That’s a good feeling at the end of the season.”