ATMORE, Ala. — The Atmore Lions Club welcomed three new members and laid plans for a busy holiday season at its Oct. 21 meeting, lining up a Christmas parade float, a mop-and-broom sale at Williams Station Day and a canned food drive timed to the Auburn-Alabama rivalry.
The club met in the Mayson Auditorium at Atmore Community Hospital. President Joyce Petty called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and Mike von Keyserling gave the blessing.
A mile of Highway 31, cleaned up
Petty opened with thanks to von Keyserling for coordinating the club’s latest roadside cleanup. Members picked up trash along the Lions’ adopted mile of U.S. Highway 31 on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Litter pickups along adopted stretches of highway are one of the most visible ways civic clubs give back. Alabama’s Adopt-A-Mile program, run by the statewide anti-litter group PALS in partnership with the Alabama Department of Transportation, pairs volunteer groups with sections of state and federal highways, and the groups commit to collecting litter several times a year. Highway 31 is one of the main routes through Atmore and into Escambia County, connecting the city with Flomaton and Brewton to the northeast and Bay Minette to the southwest.
The same day as the cleanup, Lions Gregg Akins and Leslie Svendsen represented the Atmore club at the Lions Cabinet meeting in Gulf Shores. District cabinet meetings bring together officers and representatives from clubs across a Lions district to share updates, coordinate service projects and plan district events.
Three new members welcomed
The meeting’s speaker, Lori Shortt, first vice district governor, presented Lions membership certificates for three new members: Stephen Van Pelt, John Brantley and Chapman Maxwell.
Shortt spoke on a seasonal theme, “Fall is in the air so let’s fall in together as We Serve.” The phrase plays on “We Serve,” the motto of Lions Clubs International, and encourages members to join one another in service as the year winds down.
In the Lions organization, the first vice district governor is one of a district’s top elected leaders and is typically in line to become district governor, helping guide dozens of clubs in the district.
Holiday plans: parade, mops and a food drive
New business centered on three upcoming projects:
- Christmas parade float: Members discussed plans for the club’s float in Atmore’s Christmas parade.
- Williams Station Day sale: The club plans to sell mops and brooms at Williams Station Day, the city’s long-running fall festival. The 34th annual event is set for Saturday, Oct. 24, along Pensacola Avenue in downtown Atmore, with more than 100 vendors expected.
- Auburn-Alabama food drive: The Lions will hold a food drive in the Walmart parking lot in Atmore on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. until noon.
Food drives built around the Iron Bowl rivalry are also a familiar sight in Alabama, where the rivalry is often used to rally donations. Residents who want to help can plan to drop off nonperishable food items at the Walmart lot during the drive.
A festival rooted in Atmore’s history
The mop-and-broom sale will put the Lions in front of one of the biggest crowds of the year in Atmore. Williams Station Day, organized by the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce, draws shoppers and families to downtown for food, crafts, music and performances. This year’s festival begins at 7 a.m. Saturday with a Breast Cancer Awareness 5K run and walk, followed by an opening ceremony and entertainment through the afternoon.
The festival takes its name from the town’s past. Before it became Atmore, the community was known as Williams Station, a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The town was later renamed for C.P. Atmore, a railroad official, but the original name lives on in the annual celebration.
For civic clubs like the Lions, festivals such as Williams Station Day are a chance to raise money for service projects while meeting neighbors who may not know what the club does. Proceeds from fundraisers typically go back into the club’s local work.
About the Lions
Lions Clubs International was founded in 1917 by Chicago businessman Melvin Jones and has grown into one of the world’s largest service club organizations, with about 1.4 million members in more than 200 countries and geographic areas.
The organization has a special connection to Alabama. In 1925, Helen Keller, the Tuscumbia native who became a world-famous author and advocate for people with disabilities, spoke at the Lions international convention and challenged members to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.” The Lions took up that challenge, and vision services, including eye screenings, eyeglass recycling and support for people who are blind, remain central to the organization’s work a century later.
Local clubs such as the Atmore Lions also take on community projects of their own, from highway cleanups and food drives to scholarships and support for local schools and families.
How to get involved
The Atmore Lions Club held its October meeting at Atmore Community Hospital. Anyone interested in joining or helping with upcoming projects can talk with a club member, look for the Lions selling mops and brooms at Williams Station Day on Oct. 24 or visit the food drive on Nov. 21.
Lions also collect used eyeglasses for recycling, and residents with old glasses can ask a member where to drop them off.
