Rasset honored with International Lions award
Past Springfield Lions President Deb Rasset was presented the Lions Club International Leadership Award during the Lions 5M3 District 2020 Mid Winter Convention held at the end of February.
The International President’s Leadership award is the third highest honor in Lionism and is given to those Lions who have demonstrated significant leadership contributions.
“It was totally unexpected,” said Rasset of the honor.
Rasset has been an active member of the Springfield Lions club since 2016. She helped begin the club in Springfield and was the club’s Charter president.
Martha Fredin, from the Comfrey Lions Club received the International President’s Award for her dedication to Lions. The Presidential Award is the second highest honor in Lionism.
Lions serve. As Lions founder Melvin Jones said “You can’t get very far until you start doing something for somebody else.”
Lions clubs are places where individuals join together to serve in an effort to improving their communities and the world.
“We’re a service organization, the world’s largest service organization,” explained Rasset. “Every bit of money we make from the community goes back to the community and we would love to have more people join us at our local Lions club.”
During this time of “Stay Home Minnesota”, the Lions have cancelled their upcoming meeting dates. However, once it is safe to do so, they will continue their meetings.
“We appreciate the wonderful support the community has given us,” said Rasset.
During this time of uncertainty, Lions Clubs International continue to support and serve. In a joint statement from Kiwanis International, Lions Clubs International, Optimist International, and Rotary International. Dr. Jung-Yul Choi, Lions Clubs International President, 2019- 2020 said, “Great challenges test us, but they also bring us together. Lions are finding new ways to safely serve. Our Lions Clubs International Foundation has granted over one million dollars to help communities facing extreme rates of COVID-19, and additional grant requests are being received daily. Our communities depend on service clubs, and we will be there, supporting and strengthening them together.”
Lions International is the world’s largest service organization, with 1.4 million members in 206 countries.