Both Maryville Lions Clubs have women as presidents

By Kathryn Rice

This is the third of a three part series on women presidents in Maryville service clubs.

Maryville has two Lions Club International service organizations, the Maryville Host established in 1939 and the Maryville Pride, an off-shoot of the Host, started in 1985. The Pride club was started to give Lions the opportunity to attend evening meetings.

Maryville Host Lions Club

The Maryville Host Lions Club has elected its first woman president in its history with Lion Karen Miller, one of 11 women out of 82 members  in the club. Lion Amanda Cullen is first vice president and will follow in Miller’s shoes for the 2024-25 year.

“I have been a Lion for six years,” Miller said. “I was invited to a meeting by Rick Longnecker and attended a couple of meetings. It really opened my eyes for the need for service organizations and more people to serve. I committed wholeheartedly to find the personal time to do Lions.

“Anytime women step into a role, they bring a completely different prospective. There are the same goals but different ways to get to results that compliment each other.”

Miller has set her goal to grow the club and she wants to focus on the younger generation.

“I’m finding the younger generation doesn’t find value in service organizations,” Miller said. “So I want to find ways to get them involved.”

She also wants to work more with the Pride Club, “both clubs have the same goals, we can work together to achieve more.”

As the world has changed, the Host Lions need to constantly evolve and change. She mentioned the two of the club’s fundraisers, the golf tournament and Nodaway County Fair Food booth. Both have grown to provide more money which the Lions give back to the community.

She discussed attending zone and district meetings to see how and what other clubs are doing. She feels it renews excitement about being part of the Lions by being around other dedicated people.

“I’m constantly asking for more guidance from club members who have been around a long time,” Miller said. “I learn from the seasoned Lions how things were done in the past and then put my own spin on things.

“I definitely look forward to weekly meetings,” she said. “It is dedication to set aside time.”

The Host Lions have programs at its weekly meetings on how people impact the community and how Lions can help them. People are scheduled to present for meetings until June.

“Just to have one person learn more about Lions and what we do,” Miller said, is the start to getting more people involved in the community, the district, state and international levels of Lionism.

“Every member needs to be on a committee that they can help with and feel a part of,” Miller said.

Miller was born and raised in Maryville. She and her husband, Carl, have five children.

The Host Lions meet at noon, Thursdays, in the upstairs meeting room at the Maryville Community Center. Lunch is included. If interested, contact Miller at 660.562.4670

Maryville Pride Lions Club

Lori Spire has been a lion for three-and-a-half years. She joined at the request of her husband, Harold Spire.

“I saw it as an opportunity to help make a positive impact in peoples’ lives,” Spire said. “A great way to network with other people in our community and to make new friends.

“I had a fair idea of who was doing what within the club,” Spire said about stepping into the role of president. “With an initiative to be a good leader, I want to motivate and seek out leaders within our club, to grow our membership and increase our service so we can make a greater impact on our local and global communities.”

The Pride Lions Club works the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat football and basketball games’ concession stands as its main fundraiser. The group, along with the Pickering Lions Club, supports the North Nodaway Leos Club. It works with Lion Deb Hull and Lion Bill Calhoon of the Worth City Lions Club to promote diabetes awareness and education in the Lions District 26-M4. Spire and other Pride Lions have continued working with other Lions at the district and state levels to support Lion endeavors.

“Being in a service organization, such as the Lions Club is not about being a man or a woman, it’s about being a human being,” Spire said. “And the more caring men and women we have working for the good, the better chance we have of truly changing the world. As Susan B. Anthony was quoted as saying, ‘men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.’”

Looking ahead, Spire said, “I am working on a poker run with the Maryville Host Lions Club President Karen Miller and a few club members, that will be held in late spring or early summer 2024. All proceeds will be going toward pediatric childhood cancer. I also have a few ideas for our club to head up a few other fundraisers.”

The Pride Lions meet at 6:30 pm, the second and fourth Mondays of the month at Pizza Hut, Maryville. Anyone who is interested is invited to attend.

“The work of Lions Clubs requires a continuation of effort by many people,” Spire said. “We believe in changing the world by serving the needs of our communities. More than 1.4 million Lions around the world are responding to local and global challenges with kindness and care. Come, volunteer with us!”