Grunthal and Area Lions Club to give scholarships to St Pierre-Jolys schools

The Grunthal and Area Lions Club is making preparations to give scholarships to St Pierre-Jolys’ two schools.

For the past 20 years, The Grunthal Lions Club has been giving a $1,000 scholarship to a graduate form Green Valley School in Grunthal. As the club progressed and signed up members from surrounding communities, it changed its name to better reflect that reach and is now known as the Grunthal and Area Lions Club.

“The whole reason for the club in any community is it’s like-minded people trying to make their community a better place to live in,” said club president Doug Wiens.

The club also decided recently that as it has members from St Pierre-Jolys, it would give $500 scholarships to one graduate from École Communautaire Réal-Bérard and one from Ecole Heritage Immersion (both kindergarten to Grade 12 schools).

Wiens said the scholarships will be handed out in 2026 and that a Chase the Ace fundraiser will be held in January in St Pierre to collect money for the Grunthal and St Pierre scholarships.

“The (first) question is what does your Lions Club do for your community and question two is if you were a Lion what would you do for your community and how would you fund it? That second question is to give us ideas,” said Wiens.

“For St Pierre, because there isn’t a Lions Club in town, the question will be something like, what do Lion’s Clubs do for the communities that they serve and then the second question will be the same as in Grunthal, what would you do as a Lion and how would you fund it.”

Wiens estimates that over the years the club has given out about $20,000 in scholarships.

While most service clubs in the Southeast are struggling to recruit and maintain their memberships, the Grunthal and Area Lions Club is seeing their membership expand. Since last year, the club has gained seven new members for a total of 16 members. Wiens said the club is not just for older people and pointed out that two 35-year-olds joined the club last year, which he hopes will influence other young people to sign up.

“We don’t take things too seriously…We do like to have fun and absolutely nobody enjoys going to a meeting. Meetings are required to do business. We try to keep our meetings one hour. A meeting shouldn’t last more than one hour because your brain can’t take in more than your ass can handle,” said Wiens.

Wiens stressed the club encourages ideas for fundraisers from members. “We’re not afraid to ask and we’re also as a club, if you come up with an idea – and I don’t care if you have been a Lion for a day – you come up with an idea we will try to implement that idea. We don’t wait for people to be a Lion for a year or two years before they’re put in charge of stuff.”

Wiens said recently a new member suggested a golf tournament for next year and the club was on board and told that member to choose a date and the club will handle the rest.

“And hopefully as we get into more communities, we pick up more members, and if we get enough members, say if we can get 19 more members from St Pierre, I would strongly suggest they start a Lion’s club there, which in the end hurts us but it’s good for the community.”

Some of the fundraisers the club has held in the past year or two include selling calendars for Happy Hive Day Care in Kleefeld garnering $4,200; getting a child in Vita glasses; and partnering with the Lions Foundation of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario and a hearing aid supplier to purchase a hearing aid for a man in Sprague.

Wiens’ philanthropic work hits closer to home than just being a Lion. He used to be a dairy farmer and he decided to donate six acres of land for a community garden with plots selling for $10 per 35 feet by 25 feet section. All the club asks is that the gardeners donate some of their produce to Grunthal’s Caring Hands Food Bank.

“This summer we purchased a barbecue from Costco to do a 4-H fundraiser, so July and August every (Thursday) from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. we barbecued hot dogs and all proceeds went to the food bank. We’re in partnership with the local grocery store and we charged everything we bought and when we were done, they took the bill and cut it in half and presented the food bank with a cheque for $2,400,” said Wiens.

“Whenever we do things now, we’re no longer the best kept secret. There are pictures being taken and we blow our own horn now,” noted Wiens.

The club posts its fundraising activities on its social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram. The club has been in service for 41 years.

Wiens is in the leadership group in his district and he said the district is considering establishing a Steinbach Lions Club after the old one closed its doors a few years ago.

“We’re in discussion with one group right now and I’m not sure how long it will take, but we’re trying to get a club back in town and it will be a partnership with Grunthal. We have a sponsor club, and it’s kind of ironic, because the previous Steinbach club sponsored Grunthal when we chartered in 1984 and so it would be fitting that the Grunthal club charters a new club in Steinbach, whenever we make that happen.”

Anyone looking to join or donate to the Grunthal and Area Lions Club can call Wiens at 204-326-0189.