World Diabetes Day is on November 14, and we’ve partnered with the International Diabetes Foundation to help one million people get screened for Type 2 diabetes. And every day, our clubs are doing so much more to make their mark on diabetes in their communities, workplaces and even school campuses.
The Duluth Campus Lions Club at the University of Minnesota, formed in January of 2019, hasn’t let freezing Minnesota temperatures slow down their journey toward serving their local community. Club Service Chairperson Sydney Hermansen has been working with the Service Activities Division and Global Action Team (GAT) at Lions Clubs International to get the club connected with resources that could help mobilize the club for their first service project. I caught up with Hermansen to discuss the project.
How did your club decide on its first service project?
As a relatively small campus Lions group, we rely on and appreciate the help and support we get from the Duluth Lions Club. Lion Larry Winner, our Global Service Team (GST) coordinator, plays an important role in helping our club succeed. Lion Winner was the one who informed us about the five global causes and the funding available through the Diabetes Mini-Grant Program. He also directed us to the Service Toolkit on lionsclubs.org, which helped our club understand the needs of our campus community and design a project to address them.
The Diabetes Backpack Program for schools is a unique project idea—how did your club come up with it?
For us, this was a unique proposal for a service project and definitely a different approach to making use of the US$1,000 grant. It was an opportunity to invest in our local community. Because we are a relatively new club, we felt that collaborating with the GAT network was the best way forward.
Sometimes, as college students, we aren’t sure what is the best way to help out in our community, but Larry told us about how the Club and Community Needs Assessment is a great tool to use to identify needs and direct our future service projects. We ultimately decided that the Diabetes Mini-Grant Program would be perfect for our project goal: serving the needs at St. Luke’s Hospital and supplying diabetes informational books for kids.
Your club is made up of students working with St. Luke’s Hospital, but what motivated students on the University of Minnesota campus to form a club?
On a college campus, it can be hard to find students interested in serving the community given the large number of other on-campus organizations. We’ve found that our peers who join the campus club are interested in groups geared toward volunteering, primarily because it looks good on graduate school applications. Once in the club, our goal is to promptly get these students involved in community service and cultivate a desire to volunteer using the resources available on lionsclubs.org to match their interests and professional goals while serving within their local community.
What advice would you give other campus Lions clubs about exploring new ways to serve?
I’ve learned that college students enjoy any activity that involves helping children. We did an adopt-a-family project around Christmastime, volunteered with children at the zoo, and are working on backpacks for children with diabetes. I would encourage campus Lions clubs to champion a diverse group of service activities within their clubs and connect with their communities to identify areas of need. The Club and Community Needs Assessment is a must-have for any campus club, as it helps clubs assess their strengths and motivations, identify challenges, and position themselves for the greatest impact.
Check out lionsclubs.org to learn more about the Club and Community Needs Assessment and other tools to further the impact of your club’s service activities today!
Visit our World Diabetes Day page and download a service project planner to make your mark on diabetes through your club’s next service project!
Don’t forget to use #lionsfightdiabetes and celebrate your service with other Lions around the world!
Richard Castillo is a Global Action Team specialist at Lions Clubs International and a member of the Windy City Lions Club.
