The Lions Club

The Lions Club

Written by Tiffany Young Monday, 07 January 2008

Last summer 1,538 campers attended the Texas Lions Camp, a residential camping facility for children with physical disabilities, type 1 diabetes and cancer, sponsored by the Lions Clubs of Texas.

Located in Kerrville, the 504 acres of hilly terrain has everything a typical camp would: a swimming pool, arts and crafts, trails, an extensive ropes course and many other activities for children to enjoy. What makes this camp unique is its large staff and wheelchair accessibility that provides for campers with unique needs. Also, each camper receives an award at the end of camp at an awards ceremony, making each child a winner.

“There are activities from the time they get up in the morning until they go to bed,” Board of Director of the Texas Lions Club and Round Rock Lions Club member Adrien Drouilhet said.

Drouilhet, a retired superintendent, has been involved in the Texas Lions Camp for 22 years and has lost count of how many children he’s sponsored. He said he attended Boy Scout Camp as a child and loved it, so helping with the Texas Lions Camp made sense.

“I think it’s important for children with special needs to experience the camping experience,” he said.

About 120 counselors ranging in age from 18 to 26 years old are needed each summer and 17 full-time staff members are employed to run the camp.

The camp is equipped for special needs campers, but there are some limitations, such as children who need 24-hour care.

In order to offer the camp at no cost to parents, Lions Clubs across Texas pay dues, sponsor campers, and many participate in three weekend sessions in the spring to prepare the facilities. The amount to sponsor one camper for a week is about $1,600, and all campers must be sponsored by a Lions Club.

Lions Club International is the largest service organization in the world. Texas has 31,000 Lions Club members serving in more than 970 clubs and 16 districts.

“So many other organizations were more business oriented and did service on the side,” North Austin Fundraiser chair Seth Brower said. “But the Lion’s Club does it the other way around, so it’s service first and business second.”

Though it is up to local Lions Clubs to make sure sponsored campers have transportation to the camp, Drouilhet encourages parents to drop off and pick up their children, since camping is a new experience that may be intimidating.

Funds also come from donations from individuals and other service organizations.

“Once upon a time service organizations worked on their own, but now we’re realizing it’s more synergistic to work together,” Drouilhet said. “That’s what it takes–everyone working together.”

Children are not chosen for camp based on financial need. All campers are given the same access regardless of their parents’ financial need or lack thereof.

This year’s application process begins Jan. 15 and campers are chosen on a first come, first serve basis with first time campers given priority over return campers.

There are six one-week camps for physically-handicapped children, two one-week sessions for diabetic children and a seventh week dedicated to day campers and children with cancer.

“Rarely do we turn a physically disabled child away,” said Drouilhet, adding that the diabetic sessions fill up very quickly since there are only 200 spots.

For more information on the Texas Lions Camp, visit www.texaslionscamp.com

Lions club brings gift of sight

Austin Lions Sight Conservation is a coalition of Lions Clubs in the immediate Austin area that provides eye examinations and glasses to children from the Austin Independent School District. This program provided over 46,000 eye examinations and glasses to those in need from 2005-2006.

Mobile Health Screening Units provide Central Texas adults screening for vision, glaucoma, hearing, blood sugar and blood pressure. This program is designed to predict health issues before they become problems. The screening unit is available for everyone.

Periodic fundraisers are conducted both by individual clubs and the ALSCC, including a chili cook-off and rummage sale held south of Austin each year. All proceeds from ALSCC-sponsored projects are used to purchase eyeglasses and provide necessary eye examinations for those students referred by AISD.

The Lions Club

The Lions Camp, 4100 San Antonio Hwy., Kerrville, TX, www.texaslionscamp.com

Austin Balcones President - Andrew Davis, 512-576-7291, Seton NW Hosp., 1st Tues/7 PM, 11113 Research

North Austin Lions Club President - Sheila Ross, 512-471-6312, Shipe Hall, 1st three Thursdays of month/7 PM, 1103 Justin Lane, NorthAustinLions@sbcglobal.net

One of the camp’s goals is to get children to set a goal and work during their week at camp to achieve that goal. In a ceremony at the beginning of each session, campers “blow” their wish onto a stick, and the stick is then thrown into the fire. As each child throws their stick into the fire, the fire grows, symbolizing that as the campers work together, their efforts are multiplied and the fire burns brighter and hotter than it would with just a single stick.