Baldwin Lions Club returns amidst setbacks

For over 70 years, the Baldwin Lions Club has been a pillar of community service, organizing a variety of events ranging from food drives to fundraisers for prom dresses, ensuring the needs of the community are met.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, leading to a decline in membership. In 2021, the club saw its membership dwindle to just three members, putting a temporary halt to its initiatives.

Naresh Singh, president of the Lions Club in Baldwin, hopes to lead the charge after its hiatus, continuing its services while recruiting new members.

“We all chose to live in Baldwin for a variety of reasons,” he said. “We want to make Baldwin beautiful again and serve the community.”

With over 1.4 million members globally, it is the largest humanitarian service organization in the world, with its origins traced back to 1917. It is the first non-government organization to partner with the United Nations, operating in over 200 countries.

Singh has called Baldwin home for over 20 years. In the two decades, he has seen the community change in terms of the people who call it home, he said. His reasoning for joining the Lions Club is his way of giving back and ensuring his children and others have a safe community.

“We want to make sure the reasons why we all moved from the boroughs to Long Island are preserved,” he said, who has two children. “To create a better community for my kids to live in.”

Historically, the Lions Club in Baldwin would be considered an “old boys club,” Singh said, with members aging out and not opening to new people joining, leading to members eventually dying and the club dormant.

He hopes to change that, continuing with what the club was known for in the community and worldwide.

“We want to reactive a lot of what was done in the community,” he said. “Food drives, the Leo’s Club for children in the middle and high school.

“One of the great traditions with the Lions Club has are scholarships and we want to get that reactivated,” he added. “In terms of what I’d like to change, I want it to be more representative of what Baldwin is, having a variety of different people, cultures, backgrounds, races and I think the new board is reflecting that.”

Currently, there are over a dozen members and the minimum is 10 for the Lions Club International to reactivate the club.

One member is Maureen Lennon, who serves as the secretary of the board.

“I believe that helping others makes a difference for everyone,” she said. “The new board has been very motivated to get helpful projects going. I love the ideas and the enthusiasm that we all have.”

For its first fundraiser of the year, the Lions Club will have a “Burgers and Basket” at the Baldwin Coach Diner for $20 burgers, fries and drink meal with the opportunity to bid on over a dozen baskets and 50/50 raffles.

The event will be held at 790 Sunrise Highway in Baldwin on March 2 from 4 to 8 p.m.