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Washington Evening Journal
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Brighton Lions Club hosts pancake breakfast
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BRIGHTON – Residents of Brighton and the surrounding area began Saturday’s Whoopee Days festivities with a hearty breakfast courtesy of the Brighton Lions Club.
The Lions served pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, muffins and more from Brighton’s City Hall. The breakfast is one of the club’s main fundraisers, along with selling food from the food shack across the street during Whoopee Days. Club treasurer Jan Miller said the breakfast and food shack combine to generate about $5,000 a year, and that money goes toward a long list of charitable causes.
A couple of the club’s charter members helped with Saturday’s breakfast, and they were Wayne Gould and Jim Miller. They both joined in 1978 and have been proudly serving ever since. Miller said he enjoys belonging to the club and feels it’s important to give back, since it feels like there are fewer volunteers all the time. He said the club has done a lot of good for the town.
The club’s newest member is vice president Ryan Meader, and he echoed Jim Miller’s sentiments about the value of volunteerism.
“Somebody’s got to do it,” Meader said. “We are hurting for volunteers in our country, and without them, we’d be paralyzed. America doesn’t work without volunteers.”
Gould mentioned that, for the last few years, the club has put on a fishing rodeo at Lake Darling, headed by Abe Miller.
“We involve as many kids as we can, and they get fishing poles and gear. They catch fish, and have a really good time,” Gould said.
Meader added that Lions Club also generates funds through its annual fish fry and soup supper.
Abe Miller said one of the club’s charitable activities is building ramps for handicapped people.
“We’ve got two requests right now that we need to get built, but it had to be after Whoopee Days,” he said.
The Red Flag Horseless Carriage Motor Tour travels throughout Southeast Iowa every September, and makes a stop in Brighton, where the Lions Club provides a pork chop meal.
The Brighton Lions Club participates in Lions Club International’s eyeglasses campaign, where local clubs collect used eyeglasses and send them to Lions Eyeglasses Recycling Centers where they are sorted and distributed to optical missions around the world, according to the group’s website. Abe Miller said that, on occasion, the group has paid for a local person to obtain eyeglasses, too.
About five years ago, Brighton Lions Club began awarding a scholarship for local high school students. Abe Miller said any student in the Brighton area is eligible, such as students belonging to the Brighton Youth Group.
Meader said the club has 14 members, and added, “We’d like to grow.” Abe Miller said the club had 42 members as recently as 15 years ago.
“When I joined 30 years ago, I was the youngest member,” Miller said. “Now I’m one of the oldest.”
The next activity in Brighton is a blood drive from 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, June 25 at city hall.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
