Childress Receives Lions’ Leadership Award
Lions Golf Tourney Cancelled
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – The Grapeland Noon Lions Club is well-known throughout the area as a strong community supporter and a group that will go the extra mile to help anyone. From vision-screening programs to helping children with disabilities experience summer camp; from participating in TxDOT’s Adopt-a-Highway program to Peanut Queen Candidate sponsorship; from scholarships and whatever else you might think a benevolent organization would be involved with, the Grapeland Noon Lions Club is there.
To be as successful and as active as the Grapeland Noon Lions Club, strong leadership is required. The Grapeland Noon Lions Club has that ten-fold in President Ben Childress who was recently recognized at the district level.
Childress was awarded the Tom P. Kirkham, Jr. Leadership Award by 2X-3 District Governor Randy Sepulvada from Temple. This award is the highest award given to a Lions club member each year from 50 clubs throughout Texas.
The first Tom P Kirkham, Jr. Leadership award was presented in 1988 and has continued ever since that date. In January, each club in District 2-X3 is contacted to submit their nomination of an outstanding Lion that would merit a Lion of the Year designation: a Lion who has displayed outstanding leadership qualities, a Lion who is not the District Governor, Vice District Governor, a Past District Governor (PDG), or a previous winner of the award. The Lion selected to receive the award must be present at the District Convention to receive the award. All nomination letters are voted on by the members of the PDG Association of 2-X3.
This marks the second consecutive year a Grapeland Noon Lions Club member has won the award as Mike Goolsby was honored for his service in 2019.
In other Grapeland Lions Club news, the club has chosen to cancel their Annual Golf Tournament due to health concerns during this COVID-19 Pandemic. The tournament had been scheduled for Sept. 19.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
