Lions Club Ready to Serve at July 5 Chicken BBQ Dinner

​       The Montezuma Food Pantry is presented a donation of $600 from the Montezuma Lions Club, represented by, from left, Club Treasurer Mike Princer and President Boyd Sparks. Receiving the envelope containing the check are Food Pantry President Ted Morelock and Director Darla Wilson.

By Roger Allen
 
       Continuing a tradition of many years, the Montezuma Lions Club’s chicken barbecue dinner will be an anchor event of the annual Independence Day/Let Freedom Ring celebration in Montezuma on Saturday, July 5. It fits well with the Lions’ motto: “We Serve.”
     The dinner will include the club’s renowned barbecued half-chicken along with baked beans and coleslaw, a roll, iced tea and lemonade.  There will be carry-out service as well as the option of dining inside the air-conditioned Memorial Hall. Serving is scheduled to begin in earnest at the conclusion of the celebration parade about 11 a.m., and continue until 1 p.m. - or until approximately 880 chicken dinners have been dispensed.
     A meal ticket is $12 at the door on July 5 or in advance from Lions club members. Proceeds will go toward community service projects and projects to aid the sight and hearing-impaired. Bring no longer needed eyeglasses and hearing aids to the Lions at the dinner.
Donations to Date in 2025
      Club members continue to volunteer in the transport of cornea tissue, covering the relay from Grinnell to the Iowa Lions Eye Bank in Coralville. 
      The club’s most recent community donations include $600 to the Montezuma Food Pantry and $500 to the Friends of the Montezuma Public Library; also, two $300 scholarships were given to graduating seniors and $200 was donated to the Montezuma Shooting Sports program and $300 was gifted to After Prom.
     Wayside Park, is mowed and maintained by the Lions, supported in part by the Montezuma Mothers’ Club. Other donations were made to state and national programs supported by the Lions organization, as follows: $1,600 to Iowa Lions Foundation, $1,000 to Lions Clubs International Foundation, $200 to Camp Hertko Hollow (a camp for diabetic children), $100 to Camp Courageous, and $200 to Leader Dogs for the Blind. 
      Entities funded by the state foundation include the Iowa Lions Eye Bank, Iowa KidSight vision screening, and the Lions Hearing Aid program. The International foundation provides emergency relief at the time of disasters, including storms and floods in Iowa and relief for families uprooted by wars.
       Montezuma Lions Club is always interested in gaining new members; if interested, communicate that to a member while you are enjoying your barbecued chicken dinner on July 5.

​      A Lions club donation check of $500 is presented for Friends of the Montezuma Public Library to “Friends” Vice-President and Treasurer Emily Johnston, with Librarian Christine Grimm, at right, smiling in appreciation as well. Lions presenters are, from left, Mike Princer, club treasurer, and Boyd Sparks, president.