By Kerri-Anne Mesner
ONE is already closed, another is looking for a new home and the third desperately needs more members.
Community-serving not-for-profit Brimbank Lions clubs’ long-standing presence in the municipality is undergoing a shift.
The Keilor Lions Club folded last month with five of the nine members that remained having moved on to join other Lions clubs while the other four said farewell to the volunteer organisation.
The Sunshine Lions Club is looking for a new home after an engineering report found the club’s home for the past 48 years was unsafe to use and the club’s committee decided the club did not have the money to repair the building.
The Deer Park Lions Club is in desperate need of more members to help cover all commitments in the community, including supporting Mercy Hospice.
Former Keilor Lions Club president Karl Preusker said the Keilor club closed down last month because of an ageing membership and membership numbers dwindling for a number of years.
Mr Preusker said he was in the process of setting up a new Lions Club in Caroline Springs and had already held three information sessions that had been attended by about 30 people.
He said the formation meeting for the new club would be held in four weeks’ time at The Club in Caroline Springs.
The newly elected president of the Sunshine Lions Club, Steve Aicher, said the club’s decision to move came after members realised the building was in desperate need of repair.
“This building was the senior citizens centre, built by Lions,” he said.
Star reported on 15 May the Lions Club had given less than one month’s notice to vacate the premises to Brimbank City Council, which held the lease and allowed the Senior Citizens Club to use the facility.
Mr Aicher said the club decided to sell the building rather than find the money to renovate it because of the cost involved with the renovations, which would cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We really can’t afford to do the renovations,” he said.
Mr Aicher said the real estate agents had informed the club there had already been some interests from community organisations to buy the building.
“We assumed it would be sold to a developer who would want to build flats on the site,” he said.
Mr Aicher said the club expected to get more than $500,000 for the building, which would go towards establishing a new clubhouse.
The Sunshine Lions Club, on the corner of Corio and Watts streets, was built in 1958 to be a senior citizens centre and provide a meeting place for the Lions members.
Mr Aicher said interested parties had to hand in their price submissions to the real estate agent by 30 July, and then it would take a couple of weeks before the club would make a decision.
He said the club had 18 members who met twice a month, once for a dinner meeting.
Mr Aicher said once the sale was finalised and a new home for the club had not been found, the club members would meet at various locations across Brimbank such as pubs and motels as a temporary measure.
He said the Sunshine Lions Club was looking for more members.
Deer Park Lions Club secretary Daryl Richer said his club was in desperately need of more members to help cover all commitments in the community, including supporting Mercy Hospice.
Mr Richer said the club had 17 members looking after the club’s commitments such as a youth exchange program, cystic fibrosis and the Mercy Hospice.
“We are heavily involved in projects,” he said.
