Page 17 - Austin Capital City Lions Club - Celebrating 55 years

55th Anniversary
AUSTIN CAPITAL CITY LIONS CLUB HISTORY
“WE SERVE”
The Austin Capital City Lions Club was chartered by the International Association of Lions Clubs on August 12, 1967, at Huston-Tillotson College, now University. The late attorney Virgil C. Lott was the Club’s first president. Past International Director E. B. “Tex” Mayer initiated the founding of the club, and the West Austin Lions Club was the sponsor. Dr. Robert Tocker was president. At that charter night initiation, fifty-six (56) community-minded men were initiated into Lionism. Since that time, the Austin Capital City Lions Club has been one of the most active Clubs in Lionism. The Austin Capital City Lions Club was the first predominantly African American Lions Club chartered in Texas and the United States.
During the past fifty-five years, the Austin Capital City Lions Club has made numerous contributions to worthy causes through various community projects and fund-raising activities.
Over the years the Club has donated thousands of dollars to the Austin Lions Sight Conservation Committee for the purchase of eyeglasses for needy Austin school children. The Club has participated in and contributed regularly to the Lions International Fund, Lions International Sight Conservation Projects, Lions Mobile Health Screening Unit, the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville, Texas; The Lions International Project Sight First I and II, and the East Austin Youth Foundation programs which includes Little League baseball, basketball, and other sports. The Club has contributed to the Donald Houston Kidney fund, Sickle Cell Anemia Fund, United Negro College Fund, and student scholarships, Central Texas Chapter of the American Red Cross, NAACP, Austin Adopt-A-School/Partners in Education Program, Austin Area Urban League, Central Texas Food Bank, and the Family Eldercare Fan Drive. Over the past five years the Club has given more than $4,000 in scholarships to deserving students.
The Austin Capital City Lions Club has been active in many community service projects, such as: The Family Pathfinder Program, the Austin National Science Center, and the Christmas Bell Program sponsored by the Salvation Army, the Juneteenth Parade, parades in Cameron and Yoakum, Texas, and Kealing Middle School’s Service Days. The Club has held prize drawings, held garage sales, hosted Bingo games, sold Bar-B-Que dinners, Halloween candy, Lions mints, Lion Light Bulbs, sponsored a circus, placed bus stop benches around East Austin, sponsored young Black men at the Jack and Jill Beautillion Ball, and volunteered at The Austin Aqua Festival.
Since the Club has been part of the Partners in Education Program, we have sponsored three schools, and provided school supplies for needy children. Also, scholarships are presented each year to deserving high school seniors. Additionally, several of the club members were instrumental in opening the Toy Lending Library at the Alamo Recreation Center and have served as volunteers at the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center.
1967 - 2022