Don Rivard
I joined the Dearborn Heights Club for the same reason a lot of small businessmen join a civic group. I had been practicing law in Dearborn Heights for about 15 years and was active in the Dearborn Heights Chamber of Commerce, but I had never joined a civic group. Another lawyer invited me to come to a meeting. Although the Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary were all very active in Dearborn Heights, and I had friends in all three groups, the Lions attracted me because the Lions has a defined purpose.
I joined in 1992 and eventually became an officer. Our club donated a lot to the community, but this is my favorite story.
About 10 years ago a woman contacted our club. She was legally blind due to severe cataracts. They were removable, but she and her family could never afford the surgery. She was on Medicaid which would not pay for it.
As I recall, the surgery was about $3500.00, which was more than our Club could afford. Our case investigator and I contacted the Lions of Michigan Service Foundation which is established to help individual clubs to pay for expensive cases like this. I met with the woman in our office to help fill out the application. The Foundation is efficient, but there was still a lot of paperwork before they could approve it. They approved it. Our club paid about $300.00 and the Foundation paid the rest.
The woman had the surgery. A few days later she called me to thank our club. She was almost crying about happy she was that she finally could see again.
She told me that on her way home from the surgery, she could finally see individual blades of grass again.
I realized how precious the gift of sight was and how much we had touched this woman. I was almost crying and said to myself “That's why I’m a Lion".
Lion Don