Our Story
The Mount Forest Lions Club has been SERVING the needs of the community for the past 86 years. In May of 1938, 15 community-minded leaders chartered the Mount Forest Lions Club to serve the ongoing needs of our community. The first elected President was Lion George O. Thompson. Since that time our Club has had 81 different Lions hold the position of President. We have only had 5 Lions serve for two terms. (an amazing fact). When you take a few moments to look around our community--- you will be hard-pressed to find a project, an organization, or individuals that our Club has not been involved with, and or assisted.
All About Us
The Club boasts many long-term projects or functions in which we have been involved. We brought Santa Claus to Mount Forest for the first time in 1939 and have never missed a year ever since. We also, in 1988, introduced a "NIGHTIME" Lions Santa parade, the first known night parade in South-Western Ontario. We sponsored the build of the first Mount Forest swimming pool in 1948 at a cost of $3,800.00 (the Lion Roy Grant Pool) and have been and will continue to be involved with the new community pool envisioned for Mount Forest at the Mount Forest & District Sports Complex. We have operated our weekly Bingo (with a slight COVID derailment) since 1979 (45 years). We have supported all phases of our community centre and sports complex since we initiated the first covered ice surface in 1960.
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In the early years, our Club was involved in a Meal Supplement program for school children, a program which resurfaced and which we support yearly. As well we hosted fundraising events to support the war efforts, created the original Christmas Food Baskets, and supported medical and fire department needs.
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As the years progressed, we became involved in many other community needs, organizations and individual needs. We constructed the Hutchinson Park (Lion Merv Weber) Playground, and the Bill Moody Playground, and continued with upgrades to the pool and arena facilities. We became heavily involved in the construction of the Louise Marshal Hospital upgrades and the Claire Stewart Medical Clinic. We continued to put the immediate needs of our community first.
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Not only did our Club support many local needs, but we also branched out to assist with the needs of our neighbours as well as international disaster relief. We were there for Durham (Tornado), Goderich (Tornado), the Ontario and BC fire disasters, and the train derailment in Quebec. Our most memorable service project remains Operation Warm Up, when we shipped 8 tractor trailer loads of wood/generators/etc. to southern Quebec (at a ZERO cost to anyone) during the devastating ice storm of 1998.
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In more recent times, we have sponsored the splash pad and hospital upgrades, as well as continuing to sponsor many local needs. During COVID we were able to generate many "Out Of The Box" ideas for COVID safe fundraisers and projects. While many organizations faded ---The Mount Forest Lions flourished, gaining several new members, while maintaining a safe community presence.
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As we look to the future, we continue to build our membership and engage in fundraising initiatives to support our community. We are proud of our commitment to our community and strive to ensure that where there is a need, there will always be a Lion.