Going out with a final roar

After decades of service, the Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club is folding this year because of dwindling membership.

As a local affiliate of Lions Clubs International, which was founded in 1917 in Chicago and currently has more than 1.4 million members worldwide, the club has been an active part of the Henrico and Metro Richmond community.

Throughout the years, the club has fundraised, held events, and organized collection drives to aid community members both in the Richmond area and internationally. Through these collection drives for essential items including hearing aids and eyeglasses, as well as through holding holiday events for the blind and deaf communities and collaborating with schools and other Lions clubs across the country, the Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club’s mission of service has always been a driving force.

This mission of service to the community has been true to the Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club since its formation decades ago, with current members having joined as early as the late 1970s. For many members of the club, which has had membership ranging from 20 to 50 members in recent years, being a Lion is both about the cause and the people.

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Member Bill Jacobs’ father in law was a Lion, and after being approached by friend Pete Sizemore, also a longtime member, he attended his first Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club meeting.

“I went to one meeting and the group had so much comradery and commonality of purpose, and were so service oriented, that I wanted to do it,” Jacobs said.

For Sizemore, his reason for joining was quite similar to that of Jacobs.

“It was an organization that was all about the people and the community,” Sizemore recalled. “It really wasn’t about anything other than that, and we’ve done so many good things in the Richmond area.”

Bruce Watson, another long time member who served three years as its president, first joined the Tuckahoe Lions Club in 1972 with his father, after which he transferred his membership to the Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club. He spearheaded the club throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, leading meetings and organizing speakers during the height of the lockdown.

The group, which had long been meeting at the University of Richmond, was forced to pivot to online meetings during the pandemic. These virtual meetings, complete with virtual guest speakers, videos of the national anthem played, and even virtual raffle drawings, kept the club afloat during the pandemic. Given the abnormal nature of the pandemic, Watson was allowed to stay on as president for three years in order to keep the virtual meetings running and to keep the club together.

“It was fun to do – it was a lot of work to do, but we were able to hold the club together and still give back to the community as much as possible during that time,” Watson said. “It was a team effort, it wasn’t just me.”

Throughout the years, the Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club has donated tens of thousands of pairs of eyeglasses, funded events for the blind and deaf, organized eyesight testing for public schools in Richmond, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local organizations, most recently making a donation to a local children’s hospital. In addition to its initiatives, the club has formed partnerships with government and educational organizations both locally and nationally, notably with the Virginia State Department of Blind and Visually Impaired.

One crucial partnership for the Richmond West Breakfast Lions Club was its long-standing relationship with the University of Richmond. Jacobs noted the importance of this specific relationship, which often included working at Richmond basketball games running concessions to fundraise, as well as holding club meetings at the Heilman Dining Center.

Jacobs said that the club sought to help fill in the gaps left by the state and other organizations. He finds that the most fulfilling part of being a Lion has been helping others and focusing efforts on the needs of the community.

“We close a complete loop, which is a really positive thing,” Jacobs said.

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With the club’s closure this year, some members will be going to other local clubs, continuing the mission and carrying on the legacy of the West Richmond Breakfast Lions Club. For Jacobs and others in the club, the choice reflects a desire to be cognizant of the needs of the community.

“Instead of not fulfilling our obligation, we need to admit we don’t have the people anymore. Some of our members will join another Lions club and continue that work,” said Jacobs.

When asked what they will miss most, Jacobs, Sizemore, and Watson’s answers were simple: the mission and the people.

After decades of club membership for all three, the folding of the club feels like the end of an era. Speaking of his experience, Watson expressed his love for the camaraderie within the club.

“One thing I’ll miss the most is the people that I’ve seen on a regular basis all these years,” Watson said. “I’ll see them, but not on a regular basis like we’ve done for so many years. That hurts.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Jacobs, who happily recalled the club’s balance between business and fun.

“We did serious business, but at the same time we enjoyed being around each other to do that business,” Jacobs noted.

As for Sizemore, he shared the club’s unofficial motto, one reflecting the joy and friendship of the West Richmond Breakfast Lions Club: “We take what we do very seriously, but try to never take ourselves too seriously.”

Following this sentiment, Sizemore said, “We were called the quiet club because we never were.”

Recalling their favorite memories, Jacobs and Sizemore mentioned working in schools doing eye tests and helping children who needed glasses receive them, and the fulfillment of seeing kids see clearly for the first time.

“That’s the rewarding part,” noted Jacobs of helping the community.

But with this legacy and such significant aid to the community over the years comes the fear of how to continue the Lions Club mission of service without the West Richmond Breakfast Lions Club.

“We’re going away and all the things we’ve been doing, we won’t be there to do it. A lot of that good isn’t going to get done, and if it does, who’s going to do it?” Sizemore said.

In light of this fear, the three members all have a similar hope, the hope that the legacy of the club is a continuation of service, even without the chapter. Looking to the future, club members have one main message to the local community prior to their dissolution.

“We thank all our partners throughout the years. We thank everyone who helped us. We are sad to leave, and we leave a hole that needs to be filled,” Jacobs said.

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