Somerville Lions Club President Tim O’Malley discusses club’s 75th anniversary and spiraling membership

By Jack Nicas

As the Somerville Lions Club approaches its 75th anniversary, its age is beginning to show. After beginning with 100 members in 1933, and an estimated 125 at the club’s peak in the 1990s, King Lion Tim O’Malley said membership has recently dwindled to 47.

‚ÄúUnfortunately the older generation is dying off,‚Äù he said, ‚Äúand now people aren’t there to take their place.‚Äù

The Lions Club was the 1917 brainchild of Melvin Jones, a Chicago businessman who wanted businesses to aid their communities rather than just themselves. One of the decrees adopted at the club’s first annual convention was ‚Äúno club shall hold out the financial betterment of its members as its object.‚Äù O’Malley said that rule still stands to this day.

Lions is now the largest service organization in the world, known for its dedication to the blind. O’Malley said Helen Keller spoke at the club’s 1925 convention and challenged the organization to be ‚Äúknights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.‚Äù

Ever since, the club has been the leading advocacy group for the blind, creating programs such as eyeglass recycling and the Eyemobile, a bus traveling to schools and elderly homes administering free health screenings, including eye care, ear care and blood pressure tests.

But the club’s aid does not end with the blind. ‚ÄúOur purpose is to help blind people,‚Äù O’Malley said, ‚Äúbut we also want to help people in the city.‚Äù Lions donates half of what it raises back to the city, O’Malley said.  It also donates to the Somerville High School scholarship fund, the school’s track team, and the city’s literacy program; picks up and refurbishes old computers, replacing 15 from the Boys and Girls Club break-in two years ago; and provides thanksgiving dinners to those in need.

To provide these services, O’Malley said the club must look to a variety of fundraisers on top of each member’s $250 annual dues. This year the Lions are selling ad-books, but also have run can drives and raffles, O’Malley said.

O’Malley said much of the fundraisers’ success is attributed to Lions members’ personal connections. All members are volunteers, and most are business owners, making for plenty of wide networks to reach with raffle-ticket sales or requests for donations, O’Malley said.

O’Malley is one of the few members who does not own a business. Although he lives in Malden, he has worked as a business development officer at Winter Hill Bank on Broadway since 1984.

He said he was first introduced to the Lions Club when he was 10 years old; a blind man came to his door selling light bulbs on behalf of the Lions. He joined the club in 1994 and was elected as King Lion this year; however, he said he would relinquish the title in 2009 because a new club president is chosen every year.

O’Malley praised his fellow members at the Somerville News contributors’ meeting on July 18, including two men who turn 91 this year, Ed Lynch and John Sullivan, and the club’s longest-serving member, Tom Murphy, who has been with the Lions since 1955.

O’Malley also said that as members get older, it becomes more imperative that new members step in. He said the club is actively pursuing new members, even offering incentives, such as $200 first-year dues rather than the usual $280 and $50 gas card drawings.

 
O’Malley said anyone interested in becoming a member should attend a club meeting on any first or third Tuesday of the month. He said meetings are held at either the Mount Vernon restaurant or the Somerville Lions headquarters at 9 New Washington Street.

Despite recent trends, O’Malley does not fear the worst. ‚ÄúI tend to think that people band together,‚Äù he said, ‚Äúand with the economy as it is, I think the Somerville Lions will make a comeback.‚Äù

The club celebrates its 75th anniversary at the Montvale Plaza on Friday, Oct. 24. King Lion Tim O’Malley can be contacted at 617-629-3349.