For many decades, the Beaches Lviv Club has been an integral part of the Beach community and the main driving force behind one of the flagship events: the famous Easter Beach Parade is an important event in the calendar of the beach community every year, an event that draws tens of thousands of people and provides fun for the whole families. Together with Center 55 and the Beach Metro community, Lions Club also recognizes outstanding community service and awards the “Citizen of the Year” award. It was definitely an organization that I wanted to learn more about.
After talking to real community experts, I asked Sheila Blinoff and Carol Stimmell from the Beach Metro Community Community, with whom I should talk, and they offered Joe Bordieri, a long-term beach dweller who has been with the Lions for many years. On Tuesday evening, where the Director’s meeting was scheduled, I headed for the Lviv Beaches Club building, located right next to Ashbridge Bay, just a few meters south of the intersection of Cockwell and Lakeshore boulevards.
When people came to the meeting, Joe and I went to the club's conference room, and we sat down so that Joe could give me an overview of the oldest service club on the beach. “Beaches of Lviv” was founded in 1935, and Joe explained that in the “good old days” the main role of the club was to entertain children, the elderly and help those in need. Membership was closed to 80 members from the business community, and between the 1930s and the 1950s there can only be one member from each profession or profession.
Inside the Lions Club also has a long history with pride. Founded in 1917 by a Chicago-based businessman named Melvin Jones, the club has more than 1.3 million members in more than 200 countries. Its founder believes that local business people should expand their horizons, participate and contribute to the improvement of their communities and the world as a whole. Three years after the club was founded in Chicago, it became international, and the first Lions club was established in Canada in 1920. From now on, the Lions Club has expanded internationally through Europe, Africa and Asia. The 1950s and 1960s were a particularly active time for international expansion.
In the early years, one of the club’s mottos was that “no club will support the financial improvement of its members as its object”. Selfless service remained one of the key goals of the Club Lviv.
The key point in the history of the club Lions was Helen Keller's speech in 1925, where she challenged the Lions to become "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness." Since then, clubs in Lviv have actively devoted themselves to serving the blind and visually impaired. Lions Club members do their best to put an end to preventable blindness, but they also participate in a wide variety of community activities.
As part of its dedication to working with the visually impaired, the Beaches Lviv Club sponsors blind people to work with observer dogs. It costs about $ 8,000 to train a seeing eye dog, and there are two institutions providing this training: an organization in Oakville, just an hour from Toronto, and another one in Oakbrook, Illinois.
Lion clubs have long enjoyed a respected and respected role in communities around the world. Joe Bordieri, who came to Canada from Italy more than five decades ago, explained that "in the old country only the rich and famous" will join the club Lviv. When he first joined in 1977, he was very enthusiastic. For years, he worked hard to become the president of a local club, as he was always interested in the local community.
Over the years, creative fundraising ideas have been created. In the mid-1980s, the club would have been fundraisers called “Giant Bingo” with a jackpot of $ 5,000 and more than $ 20,000 in prizes. Bingo will be held on the Greenwood circuit (formerly Iraqi Mountain) for six to eight years. During the 1960s, Lions clubs could donate wheelchairs and telephone sets for the deaf. Oil tanks were given to low-income families in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1967, the Lions Beaches Club built a centenary lion house for the elderly on 55th Avenue Norway. The Lions Club managed it for one year and then donated it to the city of Toronto for one dollar. For many years, the Beaches of Lviv also sponsored a swamp pool in the gardens of Kew. This pool is still fully functional today, since the 1950s.
Another major fundraising event for the Lich Beach Club is the Easter Parade, an extremely popular annual beach event, which also has several bands at the Alex Christie Bandshell at Kew Gardens. Through Lonies for the Lions, the public has the opportunity to contribute to the important reasons that the club supports. During the celebration of Canada Day, tens of thousands of people attend. Several groups play, and the event has attractions for children, as well as all the recreational opportunities for the whole family.
Joe also mentioned that there was once a Beachfest that will be played by Lions Club. The promoter of this event was a member of Lviv named Lido Chillilly, who also founded the jazz festival of beaches. In addition, the Lions Club held a ceremony called Citizenship Court to welcome new Canadians during Canada's holidays in the park.
Another big annual event, organized by the “Beach of Lviv” club, is “Christmas in the Park”, in which the celebrity of the Glenn Cochrane beach takes part. This event is also the event of the Christmas tree, the official start of the holiday season. Christmas trees are sold by a Leo member for the past 12 years.
Joe himself has a long-standing relationship with the Beach. He was born in Sicily and came to Canada in 1955. After the marriage, he bought a Vienna upholstery in 1964, and he and his wife had five children. He has worked on the beach since 1955 and has been a resident since 1964. Over the years, Joe has seen a lot of changes on the beach: he said: "In the 1950s, you could shoot a cannon across the street, and no one would react."
At that time there were a lot of used furniture stores. Joe credits the Beach Revival mainly for two people: Lido Chillilly, founder of the Toronto International Jazz Dance Festival, and Zoltzz (local trader Harold Wiseman), who opened his popular discount store in Konets stores. Joe added that people from all over the world come here to enjoy this area, and from the point of view of living here he said that this is the best place in the city.
I asked about the procedure for joining the Beaches Lviv Club, and Joe said that it was necessary for the existing member to appoint a new member. Currently, 56 active members work in the “Lviv Beaches” club. Many of them are retired professionals and business people, and the club can use its many years of experience. A number of young people also joined the club, and Joe said that the best age for someone to join is "when they did it professionally, and they have time to contribute and return."
Joe adds that members are also very fun together. The club hosts monthly dinners where participants get together, chat, have fun and talk about the club business. He explained that if a member starts talking about his business, the so-called “tail-twister” will fine them. Of course, the finishing pleasure is just for fun, but it illustrates that the target goal of the club is service, not self-promotion. Joe added that business relationships occur automatically when participants get to know each other.
The Beach Lviv Club is a collection of people who come together to contribute, and its special events are the cherished lights in the community calendar. The motto of the Lions Club is “Many people can do what one person can do alone,” and the Beaches Lviv club is a great example of this spirit.
