BELLINGHAM CENTRAL LIONS CLUB AND LIGHTHOUSE MISSION JOIN FORCES TO OPEN CHARITY EYE CLINIC
by Dean Kahn

Needy people in Whatcom County will have access to free eye exams and free eyeglasses at a new clinic that will open soon in the Lighthouse Mission's drop-in center on Holly Street.
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Learn more about the Lions Haskell Eye Clinic here.

Interested in the Lions? Click here for meeting information details and map.

LIONS GOLF FOR CLUB PHILANTHROPIES
by Julie Shirley

The Bellingham Central Lions Club hosted its 12th annual golf tournament and raffle June 23 at Bellingham Golf & Country Club. More than 160 golfers and 75 corporate sponsors helped make it a success. Stan Heimburger tells me the majority of the $25,000 raised this year will be donated to three community nonprofit organizations.

The first is Lighthouse Mission Ministries, to help the Club's new project to create and help operate the Frank Haskell Vision Center to serve the homeless in Bellingham. The walk-in center will begin operating in September or October.

A second project is to honor a $5,000 pledge to help buy gym bleachers for Bellingham Boys and Girls Club.

The third project is to fund four $1,000 scholarships for Bellingham High School students through the Bellingham Dollars for Scholars program, and continue the club's longstanding support of this organization.

The remaining proceeds will support the Club's ongoing programs offering vision and hearing testing, and eyeglasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment to local people in need.

The club operates the Christmas Ship, which brings the spirit of the holidays to children in the San Juan and Gulf islands. The Club also provides volunteers and campership funding for Camp Horizon, a summer camp for people with developmental disabilities.

The Club meets every second and fourth Thursday at Bellingham Golf & Country Club from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Guests interested in learning about the Club are welcome. For more details, call Stan at 360-303-5782.

Lending a Seat

When Rebecca Panton's clients need a wheelchair, shower seat or walker, she knows exactly where to go. As a home health occupational therapist, she has looked to the Bellingham Central Lions Club's Al Boe Lions Wheelchair Warehouse in Washington for the past 18 years as the premier source of free medical equipment.

"I work with people in their homes, and I work with a lot of people that don't have insurance that covers equipment," Panton said. "The lending bank helps those people who don't have insurance and those who need it to be safe. It basically means safety and also independence."

Al Boe, the club's president in 1992-1993, began a humble project to lend wheelchairs to those in need. Since his death, the project has grown to include a former three-car garage stuffed to the rafters with carefully cataloged medical equipment available to those in need. Lions repair, clean and refurbish equipment in an addition to the garage.

The warehouse also assists those with temporary needs, such as items needed to recover from surgery or assist a guest from out of town.

"We have about 950 wheelchairs and powerchairs and we have about 745 checked out now," said Charles Nelson, a Lion who donates his time at the warehouse. "The number that we have out to the public is currently growing at a rate of 10 to 15 per month. We're also getting donations of equipment at about the same rate."

The Lions created a basic contract that lends four-wheel walkers, two-wheel walkers, knee scooters, low-vision equipment, canes, crutches and accessories for bedroom and bathroom to residents for three months. If the need persists and they are unable to purchase the equipment, the club will loan it out on an indefinite basis.

"We do a very brisk business," Nelson said. "Having a power chair is the difference in being a shut-in and being able to visit their neighbors and go to the senior center. They use our chairs as a bridge when they reach this point in life." Indeed, Panton said that while the items themselves are very ordinary, the effect they have on her clientsÕ lives is nothing short of extraordinary.

"It enables them to get into the shower when before they may have only been sponge bathing," Panton said. "They really appreciate it because of the safety and independence it affords them and not having to rely on anyone else for those personal care issues."

Rick Kowsky was a natural. He had been involved in the Multiple District 19 Lions International Christmas Ship for several years when, about seven years ago, the program found itself without a Santa Claus and little time to fmd a replacement. "I'm Santa Claus-shaped anyway, so we got another Santa Claus costume at the last minute," said Kowsky, the owner of Cascade Ambulance Service in Ferndale. "I had a trial by fire and it went extremely well. I was able to pull off doing a Santa impersonation for my grandson and he never picked up on it. Since then it's been an incredible experience every year."

The Christmas Ship began in 1947 when islanders asked a boat captain to bring them Santa since they couldn't get to him. The Lions assumed command of the ship in 1996 with Captain Don Wight - son of the original captain - at the helm. The ship sails on a Friday and returns Sunday night, covering about 2,50' square miles and visiting about 500 children, a number that should rise this year as the ship will visit Orcas Island for the first time in years.

Kowsky, 52, a lifelong Bellingham resident whose great-grandfather Emmett Hawley was one of the city's first white settlers, is one of two Santa helpers on board. He and Tom Lingbloom split duties, giving each other relief over the busy, taxing weekend.

"When you see 500-plus kids, you need some breaks and some down time," Kowsky said. "One of us will take most of the big islands the first day, the other takes more ofthe big ones the second day. When you get one with 200 or 300 kids, that's a lot of lifting, shifting, moving. You get groups of teenagers who want to put three or four on your lap for a picture. It's a lot of work, but Tom and I both love it."

Kowsky said he loved Christmas as a child but it faded some as he grew into adulthood. But being Santa has restored his Christmas spirit. He said he loves seeing the joy in the kids' eyes when they get a chance to speak to him - and anyone who wants to talk to him gets to talk to him, there is no turning away of anyone. But seeing so many kids means you get a wide gamut of questions and requests.

"You have to have the right answers to the questions, and you have to be really ready to think on your feet," Kowsky said. "You get a lot of curveballs. Some are hilarious, some are genuine tear-jerkers and some make you wonder where the kids get these ideas. Mostly you just have to love kids and can't be afraid of them. You have to be able to look them in the eye and give them a straight story. It's a challenge and a treat. Every year I do it, I come back feeling even better about Christmas."

Kowsky said he regularly gets requests for sisters and brothers ("That's a tough one to answer without the parents turning red," he said), animals and the latest toy sensations.

"You forget sometimes how quick five- year-olds can think," he said. "They sit on Santa's lap and you ask what they'd like and they rattle off 20 things before you can blink. But it's not what they ask for, it's how they ask for it. It can bring you to tears from laughing or because you don't know what else to do. Santa has to keep a stiff upper lip."

Kowsky said one of his most memorable experiences was calling a child on the phone from one of the islands because the boy was too sick with the swine flu to make it to the event.

"He saw this as one of the worst moments of his life because he couldn't come see Santa Claus," Kowsky said. "And you just don't expect to get a call from Santa. So that really made us both feel great."

There was also the time two years ago when the boat got caught in 12-foot seas and of the 64 people on board, 40 got seasick.

"It was a real nasty mess," he said. Kowsky said getting requests for toys is the easy part. It's the more personal requests that puts the lump in Santa's throat.

"There are kids with personal losses, separations, they want their families back together, they want dad or mom to come home," he said. "You get kids whose parents are deployed overseas. You have to be really sensitive to those requests."

Of course, there's also the common questions, like where are the reindeer ("You've got to be ready with all their names," Kowsky said), how is Mrs. Claus, the usual Santa queries.

For Kowsky, his Mrs. Claus is his wife of six years Kayla. Kowsky also has four children and his 5-year-old grandson, Tyson, lives with him and his wife.

Kowsky said he sees no end to his Santa days and added that it truly marks the beginning of his holiday season.

"It's a wonderful treat for me to be able to do it," he said. ''I'm in good health, I can get around and I love it. Each year it gets better and better. It looks like Santa has a lot more years left to entertain."

The Bellingham Central Lions Annual Charity Golf Tour- nament featured an unusual contest and prize through the auspices of the Bellingham Servepro franchise. The prize: a 1000 GRAND! The contest: simple. You select a card with five topics on it; then you pick your topic. You are asked one question. If you get it right, the 1000 GRAND is yours.