Sussex Lions Club: Dedicated to the Community
Cover image submitted by Sussex Lions Club.
Kennedy Ellis
Lions Club, an international philanthropic organization, was first established in October of 1917, as an attempt to remediate social problems following WWI. It was established in Sussex in 1939, promoted by notable local business and community leaders, who continuously pushed for this club to be established in Sussex, seeing the many benefits to the community.
Sussex officially became the Village of Sussex in 1924, and it was on April 18, 1939 that the inaugural Sussex Lions Club meet was held. This meeting took place in, what at the time, was just a two-year-old Sussex Community Hall. By the meeting’s adjournment, Dr. E.C. Van Valin, a local general practitioner, was elected the first president. The need for this club was prevalent in this time because of the rise in people looking for a fraternal and civic‑minded club. Since that first official meeting, the Sussex Lions Club has remained an active organization that has continued to greatly benefit the local area.
The Lions Club has clubs all over the word, with over a million members. Sussex Membership Chair Mr. Jeff Gunderson, states, “Lions Clubs International is the largest service organization worldwide with over 1.4 million members in more than 48,000 clubs in over 200 countries. The Sussex Lions Club has always been one of the largest, most active, and most impactful in the area and we are proud of that.”
The Lions Club has done and continues to do tremendous work for our community, raising just under two million dollars for schools, local playgrounds, public libraries, foundations, and much more. It is stated how for every fundraiser that the Lions Club has, each and every penny of that is given back into the community to help support different causes. The Lions Club believes in helping support many different aspects of making the Sussex community as flourishing as it can be. Some of their main goals they focus on are, from their website, “the preservation of eyesight, combating disability, promoting health, and serving youth.”
The Lions Club has, in addition to many other causes, supported Hamilton High School. Their charitable acts have included lights on the Hamilton High School Football Field, the Press Box at the Hamilton High School Football Field, and lights on the Soccer Stadium at Hamilton High School. Lions Club generously donates large amounts to Hamilton High School’s graduating seniors as they go off to college. At the end of the 2024 school year, they donated approximately $11500 to the graduated seniors.
In addition, Lions Club maintains a positive connection with Hamilton High School students by helping to run the Leo Club. Gunderson states, “We avidly support the Sussex Leos which is based out of HHS but includes kids from ages 12-18. It is an offshoot of the Sussex Lions Club and could not exist without the support of our club and Lions Club International. We believe the earlier in life people learn and start to give back, the more likely they are to continue that throughout their lives so we are honored to sponsor such a great, active, growing organization of our youth in the community!”
For more on the Leo Club and Lions Club connection, check out this Charger Press article.
All of these things are what help make our community just that–a community. Without the tremendous support of the Lions Club for the past 85 years, Sussex would not be the thriving business and community area it is today.
When asking Gunderson what some of the most impactful things Lions Club does for the community he states, “We are a very quiet organization with a very simple motto: We Serve. Over the holidays we support Sussex Outreach Services, along with the Sussex Area Service Club, to give hundreds of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals away. Two or three times a year we clean up Hwy 164 from Hwy VV on the south to Plainview on the north to keep our community looking nice. We are involved in three major fundraisers throughout the year that not only fund our donation efforts, but also bring joy and camaraderie to the community. We sponsor blood drives in the community to support those in need.”
One of the largest fundraisers Lions Club runs is the beloved Lions Daze, a Sussex staple taking place every July. Mr. Rick Vodicka, a Co-Chairman of the event and a member of the Sussex Area Service Club (which helps run Lions Daze), states, “The planning for Sussex Lions Daze is a year-long effort that starts immediately after the current year festival ends. The hiring of bands, the carnival, ordering fencing, toilets, setting up food vendors, garbage pickup, and the parade–Many of these efforts require coordination months and months in advance of the festival. Even things like putting together a work schedule for the volunteers working the event takes months of careful planning to ensure we have adequate staffing for the weekend-long event. Each volunteer work shift is roughly 3.5 hours in length and for this year’s festival; we scheduled 318 individual work shifts for the festival.”
This year’s Lions Daze is taking place July 12-14. It includes yearly favorites like live music, fireworks, bingo, softball and bags tournaments, carnival rides, the parade, and much more. New this year will be the appearance of the UW-Madison marching band!
Gunderson adds, “There are thousands of hours of planning to go into making the event successful and it truly takes a village to pull it off. While the community sees the fruits of our labor for 3 days, there are 362 more days of the year that it takes to make it all possible.”
Lions Daze is a perfect example of the great effort and service the Lions Club puts forward in order to bring the community together. As Gunderson notes, “Our annual Sussex Lions Daze brings tens of thousands of people together as the unofficial yearly homecoming of Sussex.” Without the Lions Club, we would not be able to have not only Lions Daze but many other things they have provided through their charitable donations throughout the year. A club such as Lions Club not only helps build up the community but gives its members a sense of purpose knowing that they are helping a cause as great as building up the place you call home.
For more information on Lions Club and how to get involved click the links below.
Sussex Lions Club (Facebook)
