Farragut Lions Club elects officers

Tom Nitz has been sworn in as president of Farragut Lions Club Tuesday, June 28.

He served as president last year as well.

“The first Lion is Jesus. Throughout scripture, he has been referred to as the lion of Judah … If we follow his steps, we can’t go wrong,” Nitz said.

Farragut Lions Club’s mission primarily was focused on vision issues.

The meeting, which included the installation of officers, took place at Shoney’s off Walker Springs Road in Knoxville.

“It’s a great group of people,” Nitz said. “I enjoy leading our club and trying to come up with different projects so that we can raise funds to support buying glasses and whatever other needs in the community may come up.”

Other officers for this year included Norvell Burrow as first vice president; Dave Crawford, treasurer; Vicki Boswell, second vice president; Kathy Burrow, secretary; Brad Rayfield, Lion tamer. Board members for this year included Marty Stormer, Carl Leonard and Sandy Mee.

Lions Clubs, as a whole, turns 100 this year. Farragut Lions Club celebrated by sharing a birthday cake at their meeting.

“It’s a hundred years of us helping people with vision problems and leading the crusade against darkness,” Nitz said.

Nitz said he was happy Far-ragut Lions Club added seven members last year.

Landen Beard, new member and practicing optician at Stan-ton Optical, said he looked forward to spending time with Farragut Lions Club and helping support the club in everything it did.

“I love optometry. I love being able to see … I feel like so many of us take our vision for granted, and I know from just past experiences with people who can’t afford glasses or people who haven’t had glasses for many years, them putting on those glasses and being able to see the world as God meant us to see it, it’s surely something that is nothing less than a miracle,” he said.

Nitz’s motion passed to sponsor Beard as a student at The University of Tennessee.

“Everybody in our club, in our membership in Lions Clubs International Foundation altogether, plays an important role and is a vital piece of the puzzle to make this all happen,” Nitz said.

One upcoming event for Farragut Lions Club is a car show, which Nitz said would help the club raise funds, Oct. 1.