By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
LORRAINE Riches had always wanted to join a Lions Club but she never knew how to.
Only two years after she was finally able to join, Lorraine will become the new president at the Lions Club of Narre Warren on Sunday.
Working as a nurse and needing to be sponsored by someone to join the Lions, Lorraine finally got her foot in the door after taking care of a patient who she soon discovered was a member.
“Since my 20s I’ve always wanted to be a Lions member but I never knew how to go about it,” she said.
“Even when I lived in Hampton Park, it was big organisation there at the time. Perhaps I was too shy to ask how to join.
“It just so happened I was looking after this man and he had a little Lions telephone directory and that was it.”
Inspired by her father who himself was an active participant in his local community through scouts, it seems something of a foregone conclusion that Lorraine would take the mantle of president within a few years of joining.
Lorraine will be sworn in as president at a special afternoon tea held this weekend.
“I want to grow the club, grow the awareness in the community,” she said.
“Let people know that we’re not just sausage sizzles, we get a lot of support from Casey Council, which is great.
“Anybody else who’s out there who needs assistance in any form, we are there to help them.”
Lions Club of Narre Warren charter member Mike Ferey, also Lorraine’s sponsor, commended the incoming president, knowing the club was in safe hands.
Mike, 68, said 55-year-old Lorraine would certainly add a younger touch to the club’s undertakings.
“You try to get fresh blood, for want of a better word, you don’t want to keep recycling presidents,” he said.
“Lorraine put her hand up and we all said that she’d do a great job and we’ll support her.”
The Lions Club of Narre Warren began in 2000 after it was officially sponsored by the Lion’s Club of Hampton Park.
Fourteen years later the group has accumulated a long list of accomplishments, from donating money and time to bush fire and flood victims, helping to support schools and running all manner of fundraisers for different organisations and establishments.
More recently the Lions Club of Narre Warren has sponsored children on a special camp where they learn to assimilate with their peers and grow their confidence.
“I joined my first Lions group when I lived in Apollo Bay, and if you travel around Australia and you go through country towns you’ll invariably see some project that Lions have been involved in, barbecues or parks, there’s always something that identifies us,” Mike said.
For more information about the Lions Club of Narre Warren, contact Lorraine on 0450 806 744.
