In some ways this year’s Anniversary Banquet was a little different from recent years. This was the first year we did not have our food booth at the State Fair. But it was also similar because Lion Horace Johnson was our master of ceremonies once again. He started off by informing our members that sales were way down this year which made everyone laugh.
Even though we did not have our food booth some of our members still managed to find ways to volunteer at the fair. A few months ago the Raleigh Jaycees reached out and asked if we would be interested in helping them staff their Turkey Shoot booth. Several of our members stepped up and did just that. Our motto is We Serve! So that is what we did!
After that he shared some history about our club for the guests and some of our newer members. Our club is now 87 years old as we were founded in 1937. The first ever Anniversary Banquet was held in the Apex High School Cafeteria (the original one). In 1960 our booth at the State Fair was quite different as the floors were still sawdust and we were in the smaller location. The proceeds that year were $1,045 and the club members were thrilled with that!
Finally, the banquet is when we take time to recognize some of members of our club who have served well. The first set of awards were for Sid L. Scruggs III Beacon of Hope awards. This year’s recipients were: Kevin Conroy, John Lynde and Richard Hall.
The next award presented was a Melvin Jones Fellowship and it was received by Carl Cromwell. Carl was instrumental in helping our club create the Apex Lions Charitable Fund several years ago.
And our final award is the William Jennings Booth Lion Of The Year. This award goes to a Lion who has gone above and beyond in their service for the club and the community of Apex. It is tradition that the previous year recipient presents it to the new recipient. Pictured below is Caroline Reneaux receiving a hug from last Joe’l Lynde as well as Caroline holding her award.
We are all looking forward to another great year of Lionism and service!
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