Over the past year the St. Maarten Lions Club went beyond the call of duty when it comes to rendering Humanitarian service to the community and for that the Club received the highest honor available in the district while attending the Multiple District Convention in Suriname. To the surprise of the Lions Club President he was called forward to receive the award of Club of the Year 2013-2014. What was an even greater surprise is when the FOLAC which is the LATIN AND CARIBBEAN AREA OF LIONS INTERNATIONAL covering from Grand Cayman all the way down to Brazil bestowed also the club of the year award to Lion President Claudio Buncamper at the celebration of Suriname night. This award hasn’t been bestowed on any club from the Caribbean basin for over some 20 plus years. FOLAC was represented by Past International Director Lion Carlos whom hails from Brazil.
The St. Maarten Lions club highlighted the various held very successful projects like Nelson van de Linde Seniors day, helping fire victims, assisting Dow’s musical foundation, the introduction of the Lions Quest in various schools, the handing out of basket to the elderly and needy, the relieving hunger on Christmas day when we fed over 80 persons, our annual Christmas bingo, our 6th annual Lion Rudy Hoeve and Telem Annual Health and Wellness fair which had more than 3000 visitors, Scouting Antiano to attend the Caribbean Jamboree, Breakfast program at Sister Magda School, purchasing materaials for the early stimulation group, the student excellence award where 18 schools participated and all the student where awarded that were selected for their great contributions in the social and academic field, the seniors island tour and boat cruise “Home sweet Home”, assisting over 10 youngsters and those in need with eye-glasses, assisting Cole Bay fire victims, the MPC students to the Math A-lympiad, the joint project with the Rotary club of St. Maarten which we’re very proud off and naturally the formation of their new Omega Leo Club which Had 22 young professionals.
The club also got heavily involved with the sports aspect and sponsored all the Pee Wee uniforms and a Little League baseball team. The St. Joseph primary school also received assistance from the club to repair their basketball court. The Volleyball association also received assistance from the Lions Club and in June now we’ll be working with a football club to get youngsters busy once again.
But also the youth wing of the Lions Club contributed to this great achievement as they do did some wonderful projects like their grand “Tis The Season” project, the talent show at the Sister Basilia center, they donated to the MPC school survival hunt and they also supported the Pantophlet Basketball tournament held in March, the annual primary school basketball tournament just to name a few.
The club members under the leadership of Lion Claudio Buncamper and his daily board of secretary Lion Davey Woods and Treasurer Lion Alphons Gumbs did a wonderful job this Lionistic year and for that they were awarded the Club of the year out of some 61 clubs in the District.
The St. Maarten Lions Club has 52 members and meets on every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at the Lions Civic Center at 7.00 pm. Lions clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the St. Maarten Lions Club, please contact Lion Claudio Buncamper at 5200250.
Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.3 million members in approximately 45,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. For more information about Lions Clubs International, visit the Web site at www.lionsclubs.org.
