Lions Club raises money to sponsor dog

The Lions Club is an international organization that is very active on Long Island, with chapters in many villages, towns and cities. In Long Beach, there are nearly 70 members of their own that constantly do charitable work.

The club holds all sorts of events and fundraisers throughout the year, with their most recent being at last Saturday’s Chamber of Commerce casino night at the Allegria Hotel.

“We sponsor dogs,” Lions Club President Allen Schwartz said at the event. “We sponsor either a guide dog for a sightless person or a service dog for a veteran. Tonight’s event goes towards a service dog for a veteran.”

Schwartz said the naming rights to sponsor a dog costs $6,000 and so far, they’ve sponsored over 30 dogs for whoever needs them. They have been raising money and sponsoring the dogs for about 25 years. They’ve been raising a lot more money the last decade.

“The last 10 to 15 years, we really started raising a lot of money for the dogs,” Schwartz said. “But it started really going well the last couple of years.”

Along with the dogs, the club has raised money for many other groups and foundations. At their last event, which was at the end of last year, they raised money for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. The foundation helps cover the cost of attending post-high school, undergraduate and career and technical education programs for the children of those in the military.

On July 18, the Lions Club will have another event — a discussion of the 1978 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Former Dodgers player Steve Garvey and former Yankee Roy White will be there to lead the discussion.