By Eileen Moon
OCEANPORT – If you needed an excuse to help yourself to some strawberry shortcake when the little red berries ripen each spring, the Oceanport Lions Club provides the perfect one.
Each year, the club hosts its annual Strawberry Fair, a five-day feast of fun, food, games, rides and, of course, strawberry shortcake, that is the major fundraising event of this philanthropic organization.
Lions Clubs are known for their work in providing screenings and other eye services at no cost to people around the globe, but they’re also involved in many other activities that help make the world a little kinder, said veteran Lions Club member and past president Peter Dellera, who works year- round to make the fair a success.
Now 61, Dellera has been volunteering with the Lions since he was 5 years old, following in the footsteps of family members whose involvement in the Lions Club was a big part of Dellera’s childhood.
He remembers helping out at the Strawberry Fair as a small child in the 1960s. “I thought I was helping but I was really in the way,” he joked.
Proceeds from the Strawberry Fair go to local fire and first squads and other community organizations and fund the Lions Club mission of providing vision screenings at no charge to school districts and community outreach organizations throughout the area. Donations are also made to Deborah Hospital, which treats patients with heart disease at no cost, the Lions Eye Research Foundation and the New Jersey Medical Institute, where Lions helped to fund the purchase of special optical equipment to screen for glaucoma and retinal detachment.
That’s why making sure the fair is as fun as it can possibly be is critical to the organization. Dellera begins working on next year’s fair even before the current fair is over. “It takes that long,” he says.
And when the fair dates roll around every year, fellow Lions from neighboring clubs join in as well, doing everything from parking cars to selling glow sticks and 50-50 tickets.
“We help a lot of other organizations raise funds through this event as well,” Dellera said. Like its fellow clubs, Oceanport Lions is committed to helping its community, but its reach also extends across the globe. “We help locally, statewide and internationally,” Dellera said.
If you’ve ever dropped a pair of old eye-glasses into the yellow donation boxes that Lions Clubs place around the Two River area, you may have wondered just where they go from there.
As it turns out, the donated glasses may very likely travel around the world. Their first stop is a repair center on the grounds of another organization the Lions support, Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf near Trenton. There volunteers clean, calibrate and bag the glasses for shipment where they’re needed. Many of those volunteers are members of local scout troops who are working toward their Eagle and Gold awards.
The Lions Club even collects used sunglasses, which are needed in certain areas of the globe to protect against vision damage. “The light is so bright near the equator that people need protection,” Dellera said. “The sun is brutal.”
Each year, Lions Clubs collect and repair 1.2 million pairs of eyeglasses for use by people who otherwise would not be able to enjoy clear vision.
Here at home, Oceanport Lions schedules visits to schools to screen children for vision problems at no charge. Using a sophisticated eye screening camera known as SPOT, volunteers can quickly capture images inside the eye that indicate whether a child needs referral to an eye physician. “It’s amazing when you watch it work,” Dellera said.
Like their fellow clubs, Oceanport Lions also supports the Lions Club International Foundation, which provides funds for emergencies worldwide. “Maybe there’s a village in Africa where the kids are starving,” Dellera said. “Clubs like ours in Oceanport can help feed these people.”
The foundation also helps in the U.S. After recent hurricanes around the nation, the Lions Club stepped in to offer help in communities recovering from disaster.
While no organization can change the world on its own, every effort helps, Dellera noted.
“It’s kind of like something Mother Teresa said. Some people think it’s only a drop in the ocean. But those little drops add up.”
Like many service organizations these days, the Lions Club is struggling to attract new members. “Everyone is so busy. People don’t seem to volunteer like they used to. The youngest member we have just turned 50. I’d like to see people in their 20s get involved. That infusion of new members is what we need. That’s the devil we always have to wrestle with.” The Oceanport Lions Club is open to men and women with an interest in serving their communities. “Our motto is, ‘We Serve.’ So long as you are willing, it’s a good way to serve.” Call the club at 908- 489-9090 or visit oceanportlionsclub.com for more information.
