About our Club

Venice Lions Club

A Brief History

      The Venice Lions Club was first organized by Mr. C. C. Den Herder on June 10, 1947 and chartered with 29 Members on July 15, 1947. The first meeting took place at Venice Yacht Club, on a Thursday at 6:30 p.m. At this first meeting P. H. Mallory, the city manager was elected the president, Louis J. Pappas, a pharmacist at the Rexall store in town as secretary, and J. D. Arnall of the local lumberyard as treasurer. The club was sponsored by the Lions Club of Sarasota. Starting from that first meeting the Venice Lions Club has been busy in the community.

      Here are some of the activities the club has been involved throughout ...

  • Sponsoring the high school foot ball team.

  • Purchasing Christmas lights for the City.

  • Funding the purchase of fire fighting equipment for the city.

  • Eye glasses for the needy.

  • Sponsoring the Little League baseball team.

  • Raising funds for the establishment of the Venice hospital.

  • Help with the purchase of water coolers for Venice schools.

  • Supporting other special needs of the high school.

We still take part in most of these activities.

      During the early days of the club, members devised a novel way to encourage members to attend the meetings on a regular basis. When a member was absent without a good reason he was delivered a goat and the only way he could be rid of the animal was to deliver it to the next member who had the misfortune to miss a meeting. (Imagine today, a goat taking up residence in the living room of your 10th floor condominium !.)

      The next highlight of the Lions Club of Venice was the formation of The Venice Lions Club Foundation Inc., the philanthropic arm of the Club in September of 1985. In 1986 the Foundation received a large sum of money in trust from the estate of Alfred and Ingeborg Keerl, Venice residents. At the time it was stipulated that the income from the trust, shared with the Lions Club of Englewood Inc. can only be used for projects involving eye care for residents living within a definite boundary, whose income level is below a limit set by the foundation.

      In 1993 the Lions Club of Venice / Englewood pledged $1,000,000 for the construction of the Lions Vision Center at Venice Regional Medical Center (formerly Bon Secours) Health Park in Venice. In 2003 we made the last installment payment of that pledge. In 1994 the Venice / Englewood Lions Club Vision Center was opened for business.

      The club's eye care program held it's first clinic in November of 1987 with about 10 needy patients attending. With larger facilities and more up-to-date equipment, we now help between thirty and forty patients a month. Since the inception of the program we have helped more than 5,000 needy residents in the area, spending more than $800,000 for eye care alone.

      Today our membership exceeds seventy and we still meet on first and third Thursday of every month at Venice Regional Medical Center Auditorium. We get together around 6.00 p.m. for dinner and conversation, and the meeting starts at 6:45 p.m. The average meeting lasts about an hour.

Our office at 1289 Jacaranda Blvd. in Venice is open week days from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and staffed by volunteers.

Call us at 941.486.6065 or FAX us at 941.486.6019