Members of the AU community are working to establish an AU chapter of the Lions Club, an organization dedicated to local and global service.
Professor Anthony Quainton, AU’s diplomat-in-residence and former ambassador to Nicaragua, Kuwait and Peru is spearheading this project with others at AU. Quainton will serve as the faculty adviser for the club.
Quainton has been involved in Lions Club throughout his diplomatic career, which has spanned over 40 years, and he is a member of the Washington Lions Club, the oldest Lions Club in D.C.
Quainton also worked with Professor William DeLone of the Kogod School of Business and his wife Debra Brown-DeLone, a former president of the Rockville Lions Club and a School of Public Affairs alumnus.They approached the Office of Campus Life in July and the Student Government on Aug. 25 to see if there would be interest on campus in starting an AU Lions Club.
The Lions Club set up a table at the Student Involvement Fair on Sept. 15, and over 75 undergraduates declared interest in the club.
Nadine Morgan, a junior in SIS and the president of the AU Lions Club, is actively seeking members to bolster the new club.
The new AU Lions Club only needs 20 official members, according to Brown-DeLone. When that is accomplished, the club will be able to submit paperwork to Student Activities for official recognition by the University.
“The Lions Club is open to anyone who is willing to be a member and help out in the local and international community through fundraising and charities,” Morgan said in an e-mail. “We are more than happy to hear others’ ideas and opinions on how to help out.”
She also said the AU Lions Club is already beginning to develop ideas for projects and fundraising. Some of these ideas include a drive to collect eye glasses to be given to those who cannot afford them.
“The AU Lions Club will focus primarily on the local community, the campus here at AU and D.C., to set up drives or promote causes to aid or assist our community, as well as aid the international world through other charities and fundraising events,” Morgan said.
Lions Club International has over our 45,000 clubs and 1.35 million members across the country, making it the world’s largest service club organization, according to Lions Club International’s website.
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