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The newly formed, student-run Leos Club at Seaford High School is picking up right where the Lions Club leaves off, helping with much-needed charity work.
The Lions Club is an international organization that is very active on Long Island, with chapters in Wantagh, Seaford and other villages and hamlets. The Lions Club’s original — and still primary — goal is fighting blindness, but it has expanded to offer many kinds of charity work worldwide.
The group has gotten behind international aid efforts, including recently sending assistance directly to clubs in Ukraine with no overhead fee, according to Charles Wroblewski of the Seaford Lions Club, and the same was done for the clubs of Wantagh and Seaford when Hurricane Sandy hit 10 years ago.
George Brennan, president of the Seaford Lions Club, has laid out its goals very clearly — to cure world blindness, to help others in need, and to be good citizens in the community.
Essentially, the Lions Club is a global mutual aid organization that has expanded its causes. And this year, as the Seaford Lions celebrated 70 years of service, the organization is making an investment in the future with the creation of the Leos Club.
The club is in its first full year of operation at Seaford High School, though it began in concept this spring.
“We were contacted about it in May by the Seaford Lions Club,” John Panus, an English teacher and Leos Club supervisor, said. “It had been something the Lions Club had wanted to start for years. We had a small interest meeting in June to help it get off the ground for this year.”
The meeting was a huge success, and now the Leos Club has between 100 and 120 charity-minded students participating in it. Steven Anusiak, a life skills teacher who is also helping to run the student club, said he is pleased with this turnout and thankful to the Lions Club for getting this started.
“We had a huge number of people sign up,” Anusiak said. “I think that’s thanks to Mr. Panus and thanks to the positive notoriety of the Lions Club.”
A select number of students serve on its board, saying that their biggest immediate goal is to make the Leos Club sustainable at Seaford High School.
“We want to set a good foundation for future years, since this is our first year,” William Cassio, senior at Seaford High School and one of the club’s co-presidents, said. “We know that maybe some of our initiatives won’t be so grand this year, but our main goal is to set a good basis for what this club stands for to give future generations of Leos to build upon.”
Like its parent organization, the Leos Club’s baseline cause is to cure blindness, according to the club’s other co-president, Taylor DiFondi.
“Right now, we’re doing an eyeglasses drive,” DiFondi said. “It isn’t our biggest goal, but it’s one of many. We’ve also sent some aid to Ukraine.”
The other students on the board said they are thrilled with this opportunity and feel the Leos Club is unique in how it inspires people to simply do good.
“I’m in this club because I saw it as an opportunity to help others,” Dylan Malone, a sophomore at Seaford High, said. “Helping people has always interested me.”
“I wanted to get more involved in my community,” Katie Kofod, a junior, added. “Maybe next year I’ll run for an officer’s position.”
“I’ve been doing volunteer stuff since middle school,” Brady McGowan, also a junior, said. “So when I saw there’s a new opportunity for me to do more of it, I jumped on it.”
According to Panus, Anusiak and the student board, while their big goal this year is to lay the foundation, they want to work on a big community project and are in the process of zeroing in on what that will be.
“It truly is a student-run club,” DiFondi said. “We have Mr. Panus and Mr. Anusiak, who are great mentors, but it’s really in our hands. We have the power to do whatever good work we want.”
