The two-year time limit to re-establish Sunbury’s Lions Club is nearly up, so members of a neighbouring group have leapt in to save it.
Gerry Monaghan of the Bacchus Marsh Lions Club is leading the charge to get the Sunbury arm of the national organisation back up and running. The club, which had run continuously for 59 years, closed in 2023.
He was recently at the Sunbury Square shopping centre to sign-up new members and was doing a roaring trade with passers-by keen to find out more.
He’s hoping for at least 15 members to put the pride back in Sunbury, but would like more if possible.
“You need 20 people in a club to give it a solid and sustainable footing,” he says. “Too much below that figure and it will struggle to keep going.”
Mr Monaghan says many organisations that rely on volunteers are finding it hard to attract new members.
“Everybody is so busy nowadays,” he says. “A lot of people have got too many other things to do, and both parents are working in most young families today.
“So there’s little time for them to dedicate to voluntary organisations and that’s just the fact of life these days.”
Mr Monaghan’s club has 42 members, most are grandparents, but even then he says only 15 will turn up to take part in working bees and fundraising events due to family commitments.
He says Lions Clubs are all about supporting communities and helping people. For example, he says before the members of Sunbury’s Lions Club disbanded they helped a local by giving them a much-needed wheelchair.
“What each Lions Club supports really depends on wha the members of the club identify,” he says.
It’s not all about fundraising and good causes though. Mr Monaghan says Lions Clubs, which typically meet twice a month, gives members a chance to make new friends.
“We have a saying, there are some people who need the club as much as we need them, and that’s the support network a club such as the Lions will provide,” he says.
Mr Monaghan will be at the Rosenthal Shopping Centre Thursday 13 March to continue his recruitment drive for Sunbury Lions.
To contact Mr Monaghan email: [email protected]
