2023 -- H 5652

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LC001859

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING THE TIVERTON LIONS CLUB ON THE JOYOUS OCCASION OF

ITS 80TH ANNIVERSARY

     Introduced By: Representatives Edwards, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Chippendale,
Phillips, Bennett, Serpa, Alzate, and Shallcross Smith

     Date Introduced: February 16, 2023

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, The Tiverton Lions Club was chartered on November 10, 1942. It was

sponsored by the Newport and Fall River Lions Clubs, and was incorporated with nineteen

charter members. They held their Charter Night on November 18, 1942, at the Stone Bridge Inn;

and

     WHEREAS, The first President of the Tiverton Lions Club was Herman Brooks who

later became the Rhode Island Lions District Governor in 1948, and was an International Director

candidate in 1954. Over the years, Tiverton has had one International Director, the late Gilbert

Quintal, and six Rhode Island Lions District Governors; and

     WHEREAS, Since its creation in 1942, the Tiverton Lions Club has continuously served

the Tiverton and Little Compton communities and has sponsored Lions Clubs in Portsmouth and

Barrington. Throughout its rich history, the Club has sponsored blood drives, paper drives, eye

glass collection drives, and has supported the Rhode Island Lions Sight Foundation, the Rhode

Island Lions Children Cancer Foundation, the Ronald McDonald House, and the Hasbro

Children’s Hospital; and

     WHEREAS, Tiverton Lions' member volunteers started the Henri J. Pare Scholarship

Fund which awards scholarships to Tiverton and Little Compton graduating seniors. The Lions

Club is well known and admired for its support and advocacy for vision and sight. The Club has

supplied countless people with needed aids such as large print books and a Braille Reader, and its

members volunteer to do eye screenings in all the Tiverton and Little Compton Schools at no cost

to the Towns or students' families; and

     WHEREAS, Whenever there is a community need, the Tiverton Lions Club and its

members always answer the call. A prime example is when the Club worked with Professor Lee

Cory of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to develop an automated wheelchair for a

child with C.P. The wheelchair’s technology was broadened to include a voice and an optical

speller, thereby enabling a person who was unable to speak, to communicate in real time; and

     WHEREAS, For eighty years, the Tiverton Lions Club has been making a positive

difference in the lives of countless people in the Tiverton and Little Compton communities. The

Club is always ready to offer aid to those in need, be it a struggling family in need of food or

clothing, funding the building of a wheel chair ramp, building a needed playground for children,

or helping numerous families during the holidays. As always, the Tiverton Lions Club continues

to represent its famous motto of “We Serve”, and continues to represent a beacon of hope and a

guiding light to the communities of Tiverton and Little Compton; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

heartily congratulates the Tiverton Lions Club on the joyous occasion of its 80th Anniversary;

and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Ms. Rosemary Bowers, President of the

Tiverton Lions Club.

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