Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Lions Club hosts another successful golf tournament

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW Some work and some play never makes for a dull day for the East Longmeadow Lions.

A group of 91 golfers raised over $5,000 at this year's charity golf tournament, according to Bob Zumbruski, chairman of the Lions Club. Zumbruski founded the tournament in 1991. It is normally held the second Tuesday of every August at Elmcrest Country Club.

"[Elmcrest] provides a good course and comfortable place to play," said Jim Haberern, manager of the country club. "The Lions always choose us to host their tournament because this is a welcoming place to play."

For 16 years, the Lions Club of East Longmeadow has been having fun while supporting a good cause during its annual golf tournaments. This year was no different.

"The main purpose of the Lions Club is to help others," Zumbruski said. "Thanks to our sponsors and our members, we've raised about $70,000 over the past 16 years with this tournament to benefit eye research."

The Lions Club International was founded in 1917, with the East Longmeadow club being incorporated in 1943.

Helen Keller, an advocate for the disabled who was born blind, deaf and mute, implored the Lions Club in 1925 to become her "Knights of the Blind," according to the East Longmeadow branch's secretary Scott Grabowski. Since then, the Lions Club has been dedicated to aiding both the sight-impaired and the blind.

"Since 1953, Lions Clubs from around the state have been raising funds for the Massachusetts Lions Club Eye Research fund," Grabowski said. "The money we raise including the money from the golf tournament is used to further research to cure blindness."

This year, Western Massachusetts Lions District 33-Y received a 40-foot long EyeMobile through the efforts of all the district's clubs and a grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation. The EyeMobile can be placed on location throughout the region to screen for an assortment of eye and health conditions.

In addition to the funds the group raises for eye research, a lot of the charity work performed by the Lions Club benefits the town.

"A lot of what we raise stays local," Grabowski said. Some of the programs supported by the East Longmeadow Lions include the high school's band, audio/visual and food service equipment, the town's Council on Aging programs and youth summer programs at the East Longmeadow Library.

The golf tournament funds are all donated directly to eye research, however.

In addition to the entry fee, a number of different businesses sponsor the tournament. Some offer prizes for holes-in-one; this year, a new Ford Mustang was one of the prizes. "Unfortunately, no one shot a hole-in-one this year," Zumbruski said. "The closest shot was about three or four feet away."

Information for the 2008 Lions Club golf tournament will be sent out in April and May of next year. Zumbruski plans on taking a little time off before he starts planning the next fund-raiser.

"What we do does make a difference," he said.