Lions Club

History of the Loudendale Lions Club

The Loudendale Lions Club was chartered Feb 28, 1966, with 29 members. The club raised funds by selling mops, brooms and light bulbs and by sponsoring donkey ball games, turkey shoots and bake sales. Later the club began to guard the exit doors of the Charleston Civic Center and did so for about two decades. Today the club raises funds by selling mops and brooms and selling boxed roses at Mother's Day.

The early projects, in addition to sight cases, included constructing a Little League baseball field, contributing to the construction of the Loudendale Volunteer Fire Dept, neighborhood cleanups and annaul Flag Day contests when there was still an elementary school in Loudendale. Each summer the club has several family cookouts to reward the patience of the families and encourage fraternization.

The membership remained fairly steady at 25 - 30 until the mid 1990s when an exodus of sorts took place by the working members and many of the remaining members succumed to age. The club now has 9 members and is rebuilding, in part due to the exposure the club got in Loudendale after the devastating flood of Nov 2003.

On Nov 12, 2003, the entire region was inundated with rain and Loudendale caught a cloudburst just before dark. During the night Davis Creek rose swiftly out of it's banks covered the only road through the community with 4-5 feet of water, killed one person and destroyed or damaged about half of the homes in it's valley. About 50 families were left in dire straights for meeting their basic needs. Within 48 hours the Loudendale Lions Club Board of Directors had met and stepped up to the plate. Our members were in boots in the mud going house to house finding people who needed help and handing out $150 Wal Mart gift cards so people could get dry clothes and food.We handed out $4500 that day. The Kanawha City Lions Club gave us a $3000 donation so we could help as many as possible. Cold weather was right behind the storm and we saw many homes that had no heat. We bought 20 high efficiency gas heaters and handed them out within the next few days. The the District 29-O District Govenor secured a large grant from Lions International and gave us $2000 in vouchers which were handed out mainly to families with children who needed clothes to wear returning to school. Our members also helped the two churchs to conduct donations and distribution of clothing, furniture and toys.

Six of the nine members are able to work on projects. They made a BIG difference in the lives of our neighbors.

Lion Bruce Pennington
Loudendale Lions Club
Feb 10, 2004

For more information on The LoudendaleLions Club email lionsclub@loudendale.com

Lion's Club Hayride

The Loudendale Lions Club will be offering Hayrides for 5 Fridays in a row starting September 23rd. Those riding will be served Coffee and Hot Chocolate before being returned to the beginning of the ride. The Hayride is 5 dollars per person and reservations can be made through e-mail at JBlount832@aol.com.

The First Women To Join The Loudendale Lions Club

Picnic

May 24, 2005

Jack & Eloise Nutter	Kay & Frank Daugherty
Bruce & Kay Pennington	Jeff Blount, Jerry Riffe
Jr Riffe Faye & Raymond Selbe	Joe Robinson Jr, Bruce Pennington Presenting Plaque for most raised membership in month's of April and May.
Jeff Kimble's Induction