Grambling’s chapter of the Lions Club has been around for over two decades.Lula King, acting associate dean and coordinator of the undergraduate social work program, is the president. She has been a member for nine years and president for five years.
“We are planning to commemorate the 25th anniversary on Friday, Dec. 7 with a banquet,” King said.
One of the club’s biggestfundraisers is a pancake breakfast to raise money for the community. Each year the breakfast begins before Grambling State University’s Homecoming parade and has become such a hit, that it often ends after the parade.
King said they have contributed to the Ronald McDonald fund and Lion’s children camp and purchased glasses and paid for eye examinations for many individuals in Grambling and surrounding areas. Also, they make yearly contributions that benefit the Head Start program and have supported the local youth softball team.
“We want Grambling State University to recommit to Lionism, since it was initiated through the university. The Grambling Lions need the continued support of the university,” she said.
Charter member, Dr. Lamore Carter, said, “In the early 80s somebody called (Grambling State University) President Jones about chartering a chapter in Grambling. Jones called Dr. E. L. Cole, who called me. I went to the faculty and the community and got a group. We started our chapter with 41 members, including the president. No women were involved when we began; however they have become.”
“I am very proud of our organization. All of the money that we make goes to the charity,” said Carter, provost/vice president for academic affairs emeritus. “‘We serve’ is our motto,” he said.
Dr. Birdex Copeland, former head of GSU’s sociology/psychology and school of social work departments, is a charter member. He said that Grambling’s Lions Club began in 1982 “Twenty-five years ago, most of the Lion Clubbers were Caucasian, so when people in our community needed some of the services provided by the Lions Club, they had to go to Ruston.”
Copeland said, “We chartered a chapter in Grambling so that we could provide services for our community and so that Grambling could be hooked into an international organization. The sight program is one of the big programs sponsored by the Lions Club.”
“Supporting the pancake breakfast is supporting this community.”
Women were invited to join Grambling’s Lions Club in November of 1994.