MOUNT VERNON — In the 1970s, service clubs were all the rage across the nation as prominent community members came together to better serve those around them.
However, many of those clubs have closed their doors or are currently struggling in today’s faster-paced world.
Despite the changing times, on Sept. 22, one of those remaining local service clubs, the Mount Vernon Lions Club, celebrated 55 years of serving the Mount Vernon-area and is going strong.
Mount Vernon Mayor Matthew Starr honored Joe and Donna Gutridge, two of the club’s original 1970 charter members, with a proclamation to commemorate the day.
“Whereas Joe and Donna Gutridge are originating members of the Mount Vernon Lions Club, formed 55 years ago in 1970, both having been honored as Lion Member of the Year multiple times, and serving as the club’s president,” Starr read.
Becoming a Lion
The current charter of Mount Vernon’s Lions Club is actually the third iteration of the group.
“[The first Mount Vernon Lions Club] started in 1939 and eventually folded. We started this club in 1970,” Joe Gutridge said.
“There were several other local businessmen, at the time, who were asked to join; from bankers, principals, and for myself, we had a carpet shop. We were all asked to get together and that’s what we did to restart the club in 1970.”
Society used to honor those in service clubs more than they do today, Gutridge said. Yet, he and his wife joined to simply help others, an ideal that Gutridge doesn’t see as often today.
“People wanted to help people,” Gutridge said. “People wanted to help those in need, probably because of the previous wars that people had, the depressions that people had over the years before that.
“So, when somebody had the funds, then they wanted to help people. Today, it doesn’t seem like people want to help people anymore.”
In Gutridge’s opinion, it isn’t a generational thing.
Young or old, there just seems to be a shift in people’s priorities, perhaps because everyone thinks they are too busy, he explained.
Still making a difference 55 years later
With 14 active members, the Mount Vernon Lions are still making their presence felt in the community.
“We just helped a blind, 7-year-old last November who goes to the Ohio State School for the Blind,” Gutridge said. “His father works in the school systems here, and he needed a braille writer [so we got one for him].”
The Lions have made vision-related projects a key focus over the years.
From collecting used eyeglasses across Mount Vernon to conducting vision screenings at schools around the area, the small but mighty group has been busy.
“Last year, we screened over 700 students here in Mount Vernon. Members Linda Eshelman, Donna, and Joe have been certified by the state to do the screenings,” a handout from Joe Gutridge states.
As for the next 55 years? Gutridge, 86, and his wife Donna, 86, hope people start to care for their neighbors a little more and continue the service they started.
“I hope we’re still here,” Joe Gutridge said before correcting himself. “I hope they’re still there to serve and help people.”
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