The Barrington Lions Club held it's annual steak fry on Monday, August 29, 2011.  The steak fry serves as the club's first meeting of it's fiscal year and gives a chance to members to share in Lion fellowship.   Prospective members are invited to the event as well.

Pictured left are Lions Jim Shaffer, Glenn Engelhardt, Lion Kathleen Marusich and Jim Wilson

Lion Jim Wilson, started the Barrington Lions Club fiscal year off in the right direction.  Lion Jim is collecting aluminum cans to sponsor sight and hearing challenged children to Camp Lions.  For over fifty years, Camp Lions has given children with vision and hearing impairments the opportunity to experience camp orientated outdoor activities.  The camp provides cabin style housing, swimming, horseback riding, canoeing, plus arts/crafts and nature hikes.  Through Lion Jim's efforts, the Barrington Lions Club is able to send 2 to 4 children to Camp Lions every year. 

The Barrington Lions Club provided 11 new eyeglass collection boxes, which are to be placed in all of the Barrington School District 220 schools. The Barrington Lions Club collects in excess of 3000 pairs of used eyeglasses annually. The eyeglasses are shipped to third world countries such as India and Asia, where they are distributed to people in need of vision correction. The mission of Lions Club International is to improve the lives of those with sight challenges. Michael Proksa, owner of Barrington Millworks, donated $1600.00 in time and materials in the construction of the collection boxes.

Pictured left Barrington Lions, Ed Wichman III, John Loomis, Glenn Engelhardt, Nick Sauer (who is also a Barrington School District 220 Board member), Bob Christensen, Chris Cunningham and Curt Pulkrabek.

 Photo courtesy of Jeff Arnett

Barrington Lion Glenn Engelhardt and Garlands of Barrington resident, Mrs. Cary Loomis, place a Lions Club used eyeglass/hearing aid receptacle in the Garlands lounge area. The Barrington Lions Club, in cooperation with The Garlands of Barrington, will be collecting used eyeglass/hearing aids for distribution to needy people. After collection, the eyeglasses will be cleaned, sorted and sent to countries outside the United States. The used hearing aids will also be cleaned, sorted and made available to senior citizens within the U.S.

The Barrington Lions Club would like to thank Mike Proksa, owner of the Barrington Millworks Company. He and his company have donated over $1600.00 in time and materials manufacturing the Lions Club eyeglass/hearing aid collection boxes. The boxes have been placed throughout the Barrington area.

The Barrington Lion Glenn Engehart (left), welcomes the club's newest member, Nicholas Sauer.  Lion Nick grew up in Barrington, where he attended grade, middle and high school.  He is presently a School District 220 Board Member.  Lion Nick is ready to volunteer his time and energy in support of the Barrington Lions Club many note worthy fund raisers.  Barrington Lion President, John Loomis is in the center of the picture.

Nancy Vonau, a Barrington High School teacher, (left) accepts a $300.00 donation from the Barrington Lions Club to support the Generational Crossroads program at the Barrington High School.  The program is designed to introduce high school students to senior citizens located at Greencastle Residence and The Arden Home, twice a month.  The students have an oppurtunity to talk to and interact with the resident seniors.  Nancy Vonau is the coordinator of the program.  Pictured center, is Nancy's husband, Barrington Lion, Walt Vonau and  (right) Lion President, John Loomis. 

Barrington Lion, Mark Bittle (left), accepts a $250.00 donation check from Barrington Lion President, John Loomis.  Lion Mark ran the marathon to raise money for "Salute, Inc", a support group dedicated to helping military families through severe hardships.  Taken from their web site, "SALUTE,INC., passionately pursues meeting the financial, physical and emotional needs of the military service members, veterans and their families. We strive to raise awareness of their sacrifices and provide a safety net to ensure every military family is treated with honor and dignity".  More information can be found at - http://www.saluteinc.org.

The Barrington Lions Club and School District 220 are joining forces to collect used eye glasses for international distribution.  The collection boxes will be placed in all the District 220 schools.  The Barrington Lions Club will collect the glasses and forward them to "The Lions Of Illinois Foundation".  The lens will be removed and forwarded to international locations, such as India and Asia.  There the lens will be refitted with frames and distributed to the most needy of people.  Last year the Barrington Lions Club collected over 3,000 pairs of used eye glasses for this program.  Improving the sight of disadvantaged people has long been goal of Lions International and the Barrington Lions Club.

 Pictured left is Barrington Lion Sight Chairman, Glenn Engelhardt, Louise Robb, Assistant Superintendent School District 220 and Barrington Lion President, John Loomis.

The Barrington Lions Club, chartered in 1925, welcomes it's latest member.   Lion Matthew Reddy (Pictured right), is joined by his sponsor, Lion Curt Pulkrabek (left) and Lion Membership Chairman, Jim Wilson.   The Barrington Lions Club is dedicated to improving the lives of sight and hearing challenged individuals in the surrounding Barrington Communities.  Lion Matthew his ready to volunteer is time and energy to the many great projects the Barrington Lions Club promotes.   Welcome aboard Lion Matt.

Lion Jim Wilson of Barrington has been honored with the "Lion of the Year" award by the Lions of Illinois in recognition of his commitment to fulfilling the service mission of Lionism. 

 Lion Jim is a member of the Barrington Lions Club. He has participated in many Lion projects including Camp Lions, a summer camp for children with vision and/or hearing impairments, high school scholarship programs, recycling projects and other programs that Lions provide for the Barrington community.

 In accepting the "Lion Of The Year" award at the Lions District Convention, Lion Jim said "It is very rewarding to help fulfill community needs and service the needs of people who are visually and hearing challenged.   It is a great honor to be presented this award".

The Barrington Lions Club held their last 2010 Texas Hold'em Tournament Staurday, November 13, 2010 at the 111 Grill, 100 appleby Street, Barrington Illinois 60010.  Pictured are Lion Walt Vonau (center), congratulating the first place winner, Al Lovas (right) and second place winner, Jonathan Strategos.  Proceeds from the tournament help fund the Barrington Lions Club community projects such as, High School scholarships, eye glasses for District 220 neediest students and hearing aids to seniors.

The next Barrington Lions Club Texas Hold'em Tournament will be held Saturday, February 12, 2011 at the 111 Grill.  For Tournament information, please contact Lion Walt Vonau, 847 382-1763.

The Barrington Lions Club would like to thank all the tournament participants for their continued support.  We look forward to seeing you in 2011.

Barrington Lions Club President, John Loomis (right), congratulates Barriington Lion Ed Wichman III for his outstanding work coordinating the support of the Barrington Village "2010 Cruise Nights" .   Lion Ed was instrumental in ensuring enough Lions were present to lend a hand parking the show cars.    Lion Ed is holding a Proclamation from the Village of Barrington, thanking the Lions Club for their continued support of this worthwhile family event.

Lion, Walt Vonau (center), congratulates the winners of the Barrington Lions Club September 25, 2010 Charity Texas Hold'em Tournament.  The Tournament was held at the 111 Grill, located in downtown Barrington.  Proceeds from the event help fund various Lion community projects, such as college scholarships for Barrington High School students, eye glasses for School District 220 neediest students and Canine Companions for Independence.

 The next Texas Hold'em Tournament will be held at the Barrington 111 Grill, November 13, 2010.  For tournament information, contact Lion Walt Vonau at 847 382 1763.

Barrington Lions Club President, John Loomis (left), presents Barrington resident, Dennis Ferguson, with a $1000.00 donation to be applied to the Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Research Fund.  Dennis initiated the fund after being diagnosed with the condition.   It is his goal to reach $50,000.00 in donations to start reseach on this very rare form of cancer.   If you wish to help Dennis achieve his goal, you may do so at a web site set up in his behalf.  Go to web site "funds.gofundme.com/DennisFerguson/Anaplasticcancerresearchfund".

The Barrington Lions Club will be sponsoring a "Free" Hearing Screening Test, Saturday, May 15, 2010, from 9:00am to noon.  The Hearing test van will be located at Hough and Main streets, in downtown Barrington, IL.  There are an estimated 720,000 hearing impaired persons in the State of Illinois.  Hearing loss takes many forms, often striking senior citizens, who may not be aware of their hearing condition.  Fortunately, hearing loss can be helped either medically or with a hearing aid.  Come join the Barrington Lions Club for this free screening, as it takes only a few minutes and is completely painless.  For further information please contact Lion Glenn Engelhardt at 847-381-2070.

 Pictured left to right are Barrington Lions Glenn Engelhardt, Mike Vizzone, Suzanne Hyde and Ed Wichman III 

The Barrington Lions Club registration committee prepares to welcome over 140 golfers to the Lions Club 29th Annual Charity Golf Outing.  The outing was held May 10, 2010 at the Chalet Hills Golf Club, Cary, Illinois.  The weather cooperated and all the participants enjoyed a day at the links.  Proceeds from the golf outing help fund many of the Barrington Lions Club community projects.  A thank you is extended to all who played.

 Pictured left to right are Lions Jim Wilson, Don Thompson, Gene Francis, Lil Rudnick and Glen Engelhart.

Tom Laws (left), representing the Canine Companions for Independence organization, presents Barrington Lion President, Curt Pulkrabek, with a plaque commemorating the Barrington Lions Club annual commitment to Canine Companions.  Canine Companions for Independence is a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained Assistance Dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.  CCI breeds,trains and places highly skilled dogs with people with disabilities, other than blindness. These dogs can open and close doors and drawers, retrieve dropped items, pull wheelchairs, retrieve a ringing portable phone plus much more.  For more information about Canine Companions, see their web site at:

http://www.caninecompanions.org

Steve Alton (center) and his wife, Julie, accept a Scholarship award from the Barrington Lions Club, on behalf of their daugther Jayne, who is away at DePaul University.   Sharing the moment is Lion Jim Wilson.  Steve was unfortunately blinded during an operation to remove a brain tumor.  He also suffered a stroke at the same time.  The Barrington Lions Club provided Steve with a special computer for his work at home.

Marissa Polvere (Center) accepts a $1,000.00 scholarship award from the Barrington Lions Club.  Looking on, is Marissa's mother, Michelle Polvere and Barrington Lion, Jim Wilson.  Marissa is presently enrolled at RCI College, located in New York and has attended the Lions of Illinois Foundation Camp Lions on four separate occasions.   Camp Lions is dedicated to providing a safe camping experience to hearing impaired children.   The Barrington Lions Club would like to thank Mrs. Michelle Polvere for bringing awareness of Camp Lions work through out the Barrington area.

The Barrington Lions Club welcomes all golfers, duffers and sponsers to participate in our 29th Annual Charity Golf Outing.  The wide open fairways and challaging pars 3's at Chalet Hills Golf Club located in Cary, Illinois, are waiting to feel the "crunch" of your 250 yard drives and your suttle wedge shots.  This years outing will be held Monday, May 10, 2010 with lunch provided before a 1:30pm shotgun start and prizes awarded after the round.   Proceeds from the outing help support the Lions mission of fighting blindness and other eye diseases, vision and hearing assistance, local schlorships, scouting and other charitiable causes.  The Barrington Lions Club has been serving the community since 1925.   85 years and still going strong. 

For further information, please Lion John Loomis, 847 381-6887 or Lion Tim Howard, 847 514 9106

Barrington Lions Club President, Curt Pulkrabek, welcomes Ms. Janet Meyer, President and CEO of the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce, to the Lions Club March 15, 2010 bi-monthly meeting.  During the meeting, Ms. Meyers outlined the mission of the BACC and covered the services the organization provides to it's 740 members.   Some of the member benefits include a voice for business, networking and promotional opportunities, business educational seminars, to name a few.   The Barrington Lions Club would like to thank Ms. Meyer for informative presentation.

The DARE Program is alive and well at the Barrington St. Anne's Catholic Elementary School.  Forty eight students participated in the yearly 9 week program.  St. Anne's is the only local school that conducts this extremely valuable program of drug, alcohol awareness, emphasizing the effects it can have on an individuals body and actions.   The Barrington Lions Club supports the DARE program by donating DARE tee shirts to the 48 program participants.  Pictured are Barrington Police Chief Jerry Libit and Barrington Lion, Tim Howard.  Also in attendance were Barrington Village President, Karen Darch and Barrington Police Officer, Rita Kelly.

The Barrington Lions Club hosted their "Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament",  February 27, 2010 at the 111 Grille Restaurant in downtown Barrington.  Proceeds from the event go to sponsor the Barrington Lions Club community charitable projects and events.  Extending his congratulations to the tournament winners, is Lion Walt Vonau (center).   On the left side of the picture is 1st place winner, Jack Lambert.  On the right side of the picture, is 2nd place winner, Giedrius Jovaisas.  

Barrington Lions, Lil Rudnick and Gene Francis, welcome players to the Barrington Lions Club Texas Hold'em Tournament, held Saturday February 27, 2010.   The event was at the 111 Grille, Barrington, Illinois.  Proceeds from the tournament help fund the Barrington Lions Club community projects and events.  A special thanks goes to all those who participated in the fund raiser.

Barrington Lions Club president, Curt Pulkrabek (left) and fellow Lion member, Steve Belknap (right), present  David Chidley, president of the Roy Wilmering Scout Cabin, with a $1,000 check to help offset the cabin maintenance expenses.  As a community building, the Scout Cabin has provided Barrington youth groups with a safe, secure meeting place for the past 75 years.   The ten member volunteer cabin governing board will  continue to provide hundreds of Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and other local youth groups with a permanent place to meet.