Revival of the Tonopah Lions
The Lions Club International is an organization whose members make invaluable contributions to their communities and the town of Tonopah is now beginning to see the benefits of this nonprofit at work, with efforts underway to re-establish an official Tonopah chapter.
Kristina Justice and her husband recently relocated to the Tonopah area from Bishop, Calif., where she was a longtime beneficiary of the Lions’ vision programs and a member herself. Seeing that the local chapter was no longer in existence, Justice decided to initiate the push to bring back a Tonopah club and the Bishop Lions are sponsoring the revival.
Helping with the logistics of the effort is resident Becky Braska, who, when she heard about Justice’s intentions, immediately jumped on board.
“I came by this by accident, actually,” Braska told the Times-Bonanza. “Kristina is legally blind and the Lions helped her with her sight – which is a main mission of the club – so she was raised by the Lions. She’s been working with a couple of gentlemen from other chapters around the state and one of them called me, because I work for the town and he was asking about getting water at the old Tonopah Lions Clubhouse. We ended up talking for half an hour, I went to their meeting that night and I joined!”
By the end of June, five members had put in applications to become a part of the Lions Club, the number required for the Bishop Lions to add a Tonopah branch to their chapter. In order to form the Tonopah’s “Central Nevada Chapter”, however, more members are needed.
“For over 100 years, Lions have served with uncommon kindness, putting the needs of our neighbors, our communities and our world first,” the International Lions website details. “Through the incredible work of our Lion and Leo members, and the support of our association and global foundation, we are serving a world in need together. Our association is made up of 1.4 million members in 49,000 clubs who brings hands and hearts to the communities we serve in nearly every country on earth. Our Lions and Leos help hundreds of millions of people every year.”
Thus far, the new Lions in Tonopah have conducted a few small clean-ups for trash removal, particularly in the downtown area, but there are many other avenues of service the club would like to pursue.
“We’re still in the process of trying to identify what our community needs the most,” Braska said. “But right now, one of the things that seems to be a big need is childcare, so we’re looking at options to possibly help out there.”
Although a firm date and time has not been determined as of yet, the Lions are planning to hold a group initiation ceremony to formally induct the new Tonopah branch members into the Bishop Lions organization sometime in September.
Anyone interested in joining the Tonopah branch can contact Braska at BBraska@TonopahNevada.com for an application. Membership dues are prorated.
For more information on the Lions Club International visit LionsClub.org
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
