Local Lions Club votes to disband

Thursday evening the Sweetser Lions Club voted to disband their club after a thorough search for new leadership.

Club president Chuck Briede leads the Sweetser Lions Club alongside his wife Jamie. 

As the couple prepares to move out of state, the club members seek a new leader to step up in Briede’s absence. 

Despite efforts to find a new president, all club members in attendance at the Thursday meeting voted to disband the club at the end of the year. 

“Our club has been struggling the last few years… we got a great group of people, but we’ve been shrinking.” Briede said. “It’s sad to see that the Lions Club is potentially not continuing.”

Next year, the Sweetser Lions Club would have celebrated 80 years as an active club Briede said. 

In its existence, the club has helped fund the fire department as it was established, added tennis courts at Sweetser Elementary, made donations to Sweetser Switch Trail, funded flag displays for national holidays, as well as sourcing scholarships at Oak Hill High School. 

Rocky Simpson serves as the district governor that oversees many of the Grant County Lions Clubs. Simpson has also been a lion for 19 years. 

Since 2020, Simpson said he has observed many clubs disband due to the struggle of regrouping after the pandemic. 

“It’s been a trend since Covid and it’s got the eye of Lions International. We need to get people back in our clubs,” Simpson said. 

Sweetser is not the first or only Lions Club with lowering attendance in Grant County. Converse previously disbanded their club as well.

Scott Overman has been a member of the Sweetser Lions Club for about three years. 

As he reflects on his time as a lion, Overman said he finds significance in the club’s mission, which is helping others in the community.

“You can’t fix all the world’s problems, but you can fix parts of your little corner and that’s what the Lions Club does,” Overman said. 

The club members will continue to search for a potential leader in the months to come. 

In the case that no leader is found, the group began discussing plans to disperse its remaining funds and property within the Sweetser community.

“If you’d like to step up and be a lion to save our Lions Club, let it be known,” Briede said. “Contact a lion and we’ll see what we can do.”