About Mitchell Lions

History

The Mitchell Lions Club was organized and chartered on January 17, 1922 by the Downtown Lions Clubs of Sioux Falls.  There were 40 charter members.  This club was formed only 5 years after Lions International was formed.

Since it’s beginning, the Mitchell Lions Club has sponsored projects and activities which have been geared primarily to community betterment, incluing the lives of it’s citizens.

The sponsorships have ranged from plays, shows, to baseball teams (little leaguers).  Fund-raising activities varied from selling holiday candy, selling hamburgers, hosting pancake jamborees, and selling Christmas trees.  The club supports the 4-H programs, the Corn Palace Rodeo, Friends of the Middle Border, Mitchell Abbott House, and Mitchell Little League baseball programs.

Older projects of the club have given way to the major goals of Lions, today – service to the sight and hearing impaired,
diabetes, drug awareness, and skills for adolescents’ education.

Traditionally, the club had relied on 3 major fund-raising efforts to support its’ benevolent projects; the annual pancake jamboree, holiday candy sales and Christmas tree sales. Since 2002-2003 year, the club has lost the holiday candy sales and Christmas tree sales.   The candy project was sponsored by the South Dakota Lions Foundation, Sioux Falls, and the Industries for the Blind (who packaged the candy). Christmas tree sales were discontinued due to increasing number of businesses which were selling live trees and artificial trees.

Socially, the club hosts two or three socials a year; one of which is awards night and one might be used for the visiting of our District Governor, on his/her official visit.

Members of the club have served the district as Zone Chairman, Region Chairmen, Cabinet Secretary-Treasurer, Vice District Governor, and district committee chairmen. The district comprises clubs from the Minnesota-South Dakota border.

The video below provides a history of the founding of the Lions Club.  Below the video is information about the Mitchell Lions Club and the service to our community.