Ocoee Lions Club looking for new home

The Ocoee Lions Club has a vision to bring its meeting hall and Project Right To Sight program together in a new building, one that has ample space for the catalog of eyeglasses, space to hold meetings and a small hall that can be rented out as a fundraiser.

But it needs funds to make that a reality.

The 69-year-old Ocoee service organization has been meeting in a 102-year-old former train depot on Taylor Street, and while upgrades have been made through the years, it has been deemed too costly to modernize and too old to properly insure.

Members say it's time for a fresh start in a new facility.

Lion Steven Van Varick said the club envisions a 5,200-square-foot building on the same grounds owned by the club, behind the current clubhouse. The facility would have the Project Right-To-Sight eye clinic in the front to help even more people, a rental hall for parties and receptions in the center and the club's assembly hall in the back. There would be a kitchen and office, as well.

“It will also provide a venue for the Ocoee Lions Club to hold meetings and host pancake breakfasts, fish fries and other community-based fundraising events,” Van Varick said.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

It's easy to spot the members of the Ocoee Lions Club at community events, as they always don their familiar yellow vests when helping others. The club founded Ocoee Founders' Day and managed it for years, until the event grew too big for the Lions to handle.

The club still coordinates the Ocoee Christmas Parade, turkey shoots and an annual golf tournament.

This year, a haunted house is planned.

With a new facility, Van Varick said, the club can get even more involved in the community.

PROVIDING PROPER VISION

One of the most important programs run by the Lions is the national Project Right-To-Sight.

The Ocoee Lions Club oversees hundreds of thousands of pairs of glasses annually, and they are stored in the Ocoee warehouse to be distributed locally and globally. Area groups heading out on mission trips routinely take glasses with them.

The Community Eye Clinic is open monthly in Orlando but will relocate to Ocoee once the new facility is funded and built.
Until then, the current warehouse is packed with glasses. As they are donated, volunteers sort them and ship them to a designated prison, where inmates clean the eyewear and read the prescription. The glasses are then tagged and stored in boxes, waiting to go to someone in need.

Once people in need have made contact with a local Lions club and have been evaluated, they can go to the clinic in Orlando to get an eye exam. Volunteers in Ocoee are ready to help locate the correct pair of glasses, and a courier drives them out to the clinic.
Van Varick said volunteers are always needed in the warehouse on these days, and he said anyone from high-schoolers needing volunteer hours to senior citizens looking to help in the community can help.

Interested folks can also become members of the club if they are inclined to give back to the community. The Lions meet at 6:30 p.m. each Monday, with dinner served on the second and fourth weeks.

Van Varick joined the Ocoee Lions Club about eight years ago because he said he wanted to be involved in a service organization. It has been a rewarding decision, he said.

For information on volunteering or joining the Lions, contact Van Varick at [email protected].

Contact Amy Quesinberry at [email protected].