North Boone Leo’s Club makes big donation

By Kathryn Menue

Editor

POPLAR GROVE – North Boone Leo’s Club made a huge difference this spring with their annual Rose Sale.

North Boone High School’s Leo’s Club, comprised of 22 high school students, raised $700 in their annual event. The funds they raised will benefit The Center for Sight and Hearing in Rockford.

The Center for Sight and Hearing dedicates their services to individuals with vision and hearing loss to “enhance their quality of life” and so they can “live independently.”

Each person who donated to this cause received beautiful roses courtesy of the Leo’s and Lion’s Clubs.

Despite already raising $700 for the center, North Boone’s Leo’s wanted to do more for the cause.  They decided to contribute an extra $300 they earned from other fundraisers to donate to The Center for Sight and Hearing to provide the organization an even $1,000 donation.

“Our Leo’s have been very active,” Poplar Grove Lion’s Sponsor Bob Kemp said. The Poplar Grove Lion’s Club and the Capron Lion’s Club sponsor the North Boone Leo’s Club.

Kemp said that the Leo’s have been very instrumental to the Lion’s Clubs. The young Leo’s have aided with road side cleanups, various fundraisers, and helping serve and cleanup at the Lion’s Clubs breakfasts.

The high dedication comes from North Boone High School’s rule that every student must have at least 40 hours of community service in order to graduate. The students are just fine with that decision.

“They [the students] are very adamant about it,” Kemp said.

The students are so adamant about giving back to the community that their Lion Sponsors decided to make a contest out of the Rose Sales.

“We had a contest to see who could sell the most and two tied with eight dozen each…which means the future looks pretty good,” Kemp said.

The two students who tied for the win were both freshmen at North Boone. Ava Paris and Ben Hooker tied for the win.

Not only did Hooker and Paris win the contest, but Hooker also will be president of the Leos next year with Paris being his vice president. Joining them as officers will be Nikelle Synove as secretary and Mason Yunk as treasurer.

Other North Boone Leo’s Club members are: current President Mariela Trevino, current Vice President Skyler Yunk, current Secretary Jacob Blouin, current Treasurer Nick Krawczyk, Victoria Alatorre, Thomas Lee, Griffin Schuster, Krissy Tukesbrey, Jade Campos, Kyle Hoffman, Johnathan Solman, Victor Ventura, Stephany Cervantes, Alex Cardenas, Kaitlin Petty, Erin Schwarzbach, Erin Osadjan, and Jesus Galicia.

The Leo’s weren’t the only Lion’s Club affiliates to sell a lot of roses for a great cause. Each of the 14 Lion’s Clubs in the area sold roses.

Last year, the Poplar Grove Lion’s Club sold about 300 dozen roses, with member Don Linberg selling 94 dozen.

This year, the Poplar Grove Lion’s Club sold around 120 dozen roses with Linberg adding another 140 dozen roses to their total to set them well into the 260 dozen roses range.

All of the proceeds from the Lion’s and the Leo’s Clubs rose sales will benefit The Center for Sight and Hearing. The center will be presented with checks in the near future, courtesy of the Boone County Lion’s and Leo’s Clubs.