“THESE young people should be extremely proud of what they have achieved, especially seeing as many of them are still in primary school and have already shown they are passionate and active members of our community,” Gambier City Leo Club president Emily Brown said at the club’s charter night on Tuesday.
Joining other members at Casadio Park, the young group of leaders aged between 12 and 18 signed the charter and received their official caps and tops.
Initially forming over a year ago with only six members, the club has made its way through many challenges and is now ready to truly serve the community.
“The support and assistance that we have received from the Gambier City Lions Club in its entirety is outstanding and we are incredibly grateful,” Ms Brown said.
“Throughout our journey as a Leo club we have had several changes in members and meeting structure, however, one thing has remained consistent throughout.
“That consistency has been in our support person, Max Hellyer, the Lions member who has dedicated his own time to assist us in achieving our full potential as a club and as leaders.
“Without his passion and determination, we would not be here tonight celebrating our charter.”
Proud to have helped the Leo club form, Mr Hellyer said it had been a long and hard road, but very worthwhile.
“I see Leos as a precursor to hopefully becoming Lions in the future and leaders of the future,” he said.
“In my view most young people get a bad rap from the older generation, we say they are lazy, have no respect, perhaps they are on drugs, the phone is stuck to their ear, but in my opinion they are much maligned.
“There are a great deal of young people with all sorts of talents that in my opinion should not be wasted.”
As a club, they first began by running casual meetings and events targeted at potential members from a shuffle night to a pet friendly family fun day.
Unfortunately due to some unforeseen factors such as weather, these events were not as successful as the group had hoped for, however Ms Brown said they were determined to not give up.
“We continued to rely on our self-sufficient club and assist at Lions events wherever possible and since then our club has continued to grow in size, eventuating in a total membership of 14,” she said.
“I look forward to the projects that we are taking on in the near future, which include hosting a movie night fundraiser in the school holidays, as well as the donation of the $1900 in our account to various local charities.
“Thank you to all my wonderful Leos for your outstanding commitment and hard work.”
