“That single act of kindness or that single act of service”

Lions clubs celebrate 100 years.

Organizers of the joint Lions clubs 100th anniversary celebration from left: John McDonald, Dione Ramsdill and Jerry Gordon. (Photo provided)

Two Lions clubs — Saratoga Springs and Albany & Troy — came together to celebrate 100 years Oct. 11, with a dinner for about 200 people at the Gideon Putnam Hotel, and a roaring ‘20s theme replete with period dress, antique cars, a dixieland jazz band and a speakeasy feel to the night’s event.

“Everybody got into the theme,” says John McDonald, an organizer of the event and past president of the Saratoga Springs Lions Club.

The night included a speech from Keller Johnson, the great-grand niece of Helen Keller. It was Helen Keller’s challenge to the early Lions clubs to become the “Knights of the Blind” that gave those clubs a vision and focus beyond the motto “We Serve,” McDonald says.

Speakers and honorees at the 100th anniversary of the Lions clubs of Saratoga Springs and Albany & Troy included Saratoga Lions President Tom Boghosian, speaker and former Lions Club International Director Gary Brown, Barb Brown, and Barbara Bentley.

Johnson, McDonald says, told the story of Anne Sullivan, the teacher and advocate for the blind who taught a young Helen to be able to communicate with the world even though she could not hear, see or speak.

As a child, Sullivan had an alcoholic father who gave his children to a Massachusetts institution after his wife died. There, Anne was abused and, partially blind from an eye infection, was ignored or even held in solitary confinement.

“An aide baked her some cookies one day and befriended her,” making life more bearable, McDonald recalled.

She eventually was able to advocate for herself and move to a school. It was this education that led her to teach and help others.

The story, according to some online accounts, is more apocryphal than historically accurate, but it highlighted what became a theme of the evening: “That single act of kindness or that single act of service, you just never know what impact that’s going to have.”

“It just really brought it all home,” McDonald says.

Back row: Jerry Gordon, Tom Boghosian, John McDonald, Gary Brown. Front row: Maryanne Gordon and Anthony Paradiso.

Jerry Gordon, the acclaimed Capital District jazz advocate and president of the Albany & Troy combined Lions club, called the party “a good evening” and said that it was a nice way to celebrate service to the community. While calling it clichéd, he says, “We’re looking forward to the next 100 years of serving our communities.”

Recent projects include: Saratoga Stars ice skating program that runs every winter and helps children with developmental or mental challenges to skate; Camp Abilities Saratoga, a week-long sports camp for kids who are blind or have low eyesight; and the Lions Eye Institute at the Albany Medical Center.

“There are two constant threads over that 100 years,” McDonald says. “The first one being that we work hard. We put in a lot of time, and we turn out when a project is going on.” The second? Having fun while doing it.