Former Lions Club District 20-Y Governor and New Club Committee Member David Hubman at a City of Norwich Common Council meeting in 2023. Hubman is working to re-charter the Norwich Lions Club, and will be hosting an informational meeting at 7 p.m. on March 21 at the Norwich Family YMCA Community Room. (Photo by Sarah Genter)

NORWICH — The Lions Club District 20-Y is looking to re-charter the Norwich chapter after the prior branch was dissolved in the summer of 2022. They will be hosting an informational meeting at the Norwich Family YMCA Community Room at 7 p.m. on March 21, where interested community members can learn about the Lions Club and what they do.

The district covers Central New York and is made up of 52 Lions Clubs that exist to serve the needs of their respective communities. Their service work covers five main areas: vision, diabetes, hunger, environment, and childhood cancer. However, they also look to their community for what types of service is needed in that area.

"What I really want to focus on is Norwich and the community of Norwich, what their needs are, what they see as their needs, things that we can do service for and around," said former Lions Club District 20-Y Governor and New Club Committee Member David Hubman.

"We’re going to put together a short PowerPoint and we’re just going to talk about Lions. We'll talk a little about the history of the Norwich Lions," Hubman explained. "We’ll talk about the whole structure of how Lions works, from the local community to the international level."

"Nobody has to commit. There’s no commitment involved," he added. "Just come, hear about what Lions do, hear about what Lions did in Norwich."

He said the Lions Club is a dues-paying organization, which helps fund the international board and headquarters in Oakbrook, Illinois. However, any fundraising done by a Lions branch is kept within that branch's service area to benefit their community.

To re-charter the Norwich Lions Club as a full club, Hubman said they would need about 25 members. However, they would only need ten people to create a club branch, which functions just like any other Lions Club, but it also has the support of another local chapter. Hubman said it would likely be the Bainbridge, Oxford, or Greene club supporting the Norwich branch.

Those interested in attending the meeting or joining the Norwich Lions Club can contact Hubman at 315-240-7112 or dhubman61@gmail.com to register.

Once the Norwich branch or chapter is formed, Hubman said it will be up to members to determine how frequently they will meet, what will be covered at the meetings, and what service projects they will do.

Examples of service projects include vision screenings for students in local schools and Head Start programs, creating memorial parks and botanical gardens, donating beds to local children in need, supporting youth sports and activities, and supporting local events such as Colorscape or the Norwitch Fall Festival.

Members of any age are welcome to join the Lions Club. Hubman said the Greene Lions Club has many parents who got involved and support local youth programs through the group.

"The Greene Lions Club has a younger club, because they have a park, a Lions park, there and they support all the little league programs and the youth soccer and things like that. So there’s a lot of draw of the parents who like to do those kinds of things," he explained. "But they also have folks there that are in their 80s. So it just depends on if you want to serve, and how willing you are to serve your community."

The Lions Club also offers the Leo Program for area high schoolers who are interested in giving back to their community.


Hubman said those that join the Norwich Lion Club before it becomes a charter member will receive a certification and commemorative pin. They will also be asked to sign the charter as a founding member of the club.

"Once we get to the point where they’re chartered, we plan a big celebration, and we do a dinner, we do formal inductions," Hubman said. "We install their officers, we induct all of the members that are in attendance, and things like that. So we make it a really big celebration for the families and for the people that are joining."

Re-chartering the Norwich Lions Club has been in the works since March of 2023. Hubman said he already has a list of about 20 people interested in attending the informational meeting, and he hopes at least a few of them will have the dedication to the community to restart the club.

"What I’m going to be looking for is two or three people that live in the community who are willing to say, we will do this, we’ll get this," Hubman said. "If you have one person in your community who’s well respected and knows people, we can make this happen. And hopefully we’ll find one or two of those folks who say, you just tell us what we need to do and we’ll do it."

For more information on Lions Club International, visit LionsClubs.org.