The Sanford Lions Club and its Branch Club members are working hard this week preparing to support the annual Relay for Life for Cancer research to be held at the Lions Fairgrounds Friday and Saturday, May 15-16. And they urge all local citizens, whether touched by this dreadful disease or not, to come out and support this most important fundraiser.
The Lions Relay for Life team, spearheaded by Darlene Turner and Teresa Dew, have been raising funds for the event for months and other Lions have been working behind the scenes to assure the fairgrounds are ready for the thousands expected. Club members will be grilling turkey legs for sale with proceeds going to Relay for Life. Saturday morning, May 16, there will be a Lions pancake breakfast fundraiser at the fairgrounds. All Relay for Life participants and the general public is urged to support this project so that Lions can continue to help the blind, sight and hearing impaired, and youth programs.
These were among topics of business at the club’s weekly meeting April 30 with President John Walden, Jr. presiding. Special guest, Tony Williams, was recognized and welcomed by members. Williams led the club in 1985-86 and was district governor in 1998-99. He moved away from Sanford for a number of years, but has now returned.
Also honored by the club was its newest member, Johnny Poindexter, who received a standing ovation following his induction ceremony. Past District Governor Roy Jernigan conducted the rites which stress the club’s primary mission as a service organization whose motto is “We Serve.” Lion Thomas Douglas was his sponsor.
Poindexter and his wife, Susan, reside in Sanford. They have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is retired after 30 years with the Cooper Tools plant in Apex and now is a volunteer at the Habitat for Humanity center.
The evening’s program was a most informative report on Central Carolina Community College’s Emergency Services Training Center located at the former Lee County Airport site near Southern Lee High School in the Tramway area. Fire and Rescue Coordinator Joey Shue was the speaker and called the center one of Lee County’s best kept secrets.
Part of CCCC’s Continuing Education department, the center’s training programs serve all basic and continuing certification needs for emergency responders in the college’s three county area of Lee, Harnett and Chatham. But the outstanding site along with innovative planning and utilization of resources has turned the local center into a mecca for emergency services units from throughout North Carolina and the eastern U.S.
Police, fire and rescue departments from a wide area now come to Sanford for specialized training that they cannot get anywhere else. Also included at the facility are the school’s automotive restoration program and motorcycle safety courses which, along with emergency vehicle training, utilize the former airport runway areas.
Shue said this is generating a tremendous economic impact in the community as often hundreds of participants come from out-of-town and stay at local motels and eat in local restaurants.
Lion Ish Rivera was program chairman and delivered the evening’s invocation. John Cole led the Pledge of Allegiance.
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