History

HISTORY

The Thalia Lions Club was chartered on April 20 1966, and since then we have served the Virginia Beach Community continuously helping people with loss of sight and hearing and with diabetes.  But that’s not all. Our club’s history is rich in community projects.  I’ll start with Lion Eli Chertoff, our sixteenth 1981 president who passed away in 2010 at the age of 96.  As a son of Russian immigrants Lion Eli set up our scholarship account which has grown to over $50,000 and is now used for Princess Anne High School and Adult Learning Center scholarships.

Our club has been packed with notable Lions and a wealth of service projects. No one represented these folks more than Lion Dallas Divelbiss. Door-to-door broom sales started out of Lion Dallas’ garage, followed by a picnic at his home. Then there’s Lion Ed DeLong serving Thalia Lions for 23 years. For dozens of years Lion Ed handed out scholarships for a selected Adult Learning Center student going to Tidewater Community College.

We’ve had some wonderful guest speakers, some of whom have become Lions. In October 2009 Irene Conlin from the Virginia Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments related her perspective as a parent of a blind child. Her causes immediately became ours and the following April Thalia Lions were volunteering at the Audible Blind Easter Egg Hunt.

Through the years Thalia Lions has received recommendations from Social Services and Thalia Lions Club members for a variety of diverse projects, all of which the club has accepted enthusisatically including collecting clothing and children’s books, cleaning the side of a road, music contests, blood drives, scholarships, tree planting, food for the needy, and parking cars for Homearama. Some of these projects have been undertaken for a few years and others provided continuously up to present time. Following is a description of some of these projects.

*Miss Alice Project. In 2021 Lion Jack Wagner told the club about a woman, Alice Harrell, who has her apartment loaded with food and items she takes to people in need. Thalia Lions have provided personal funds to Lion Jack to give to Alice who lives in the Emerald Point Apartments.

*Jump Start. Started in 2019 Social Services invited Thalia Lions to be part of public school low income students who are bused in for services and provisions. They are provided haircuts, shoes, clothing, and weekend book bags. Thalia Lions stepped in providing over 200 vision screenings.

* Ronald McDonald House. In 2009 Lion Vickie Kennedy solicited the club to provide a dinner meal at the Ronald McDonald House for families visiting their hospitalized children. The club responded and provided supplies and donations, with similar follow-ups.

Head Start is a national child development program for for under privileged children from birth to age 5, which provides services to promote academic, social and emotional development for income-eligible families.
Thalia Lions provides vision screenings for all locations, screening all 1st and 3rd-grade students in the entire Virginia Beach School System covering 15-20 of the 56 locations.
Head Start is the most successful, longest-running, national school readiness program in the United States.

15 Mar 2023 -Virginia Beach Lions Club helps students facing hunger issues through Beach Bags drive

3 WTKR News by Kurt Williams
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It's that time of the year—the Beach Bags drive, an opportunity for the community to drop off food. Thanks to those donations, that food helps families struggling to put food on the table. One person who helps out in a huge way with the program is Nancy Watters with the Virginia Beach Thalia Lions Club. She helps raise money and rounds up volunteers to pack the Beach Bags. News 3 learned she would be attending a Lions Club meeting at the Ynot Pizza off Great Neck Road and that's where News 3 surprised her with an Everyday Hero award. We told her we've been hearing what she means to the Beach Bags program. "Well, I hope it's what our entire Lions Club means to the Beach Bags program because we're all in this together and because we know that there's this need in Virginia Beach," she said. "We know this organization the Beach Bags is funded totally by the public and by volunteers and donations and we wanted to be a part of it."

2023, Lions Bag Hunger Project

Thalia Lions Club donated 54 bags of food items to Thalia United Methodist Church Food Pantry on Thursday, Jan. 26th. At least 22 members and friends participated in our Lions Bag Hunger project. The Pantry provided a list of most need items and we shopped to fill each bag with non-perishable foods. The value of our donations was $2,555.00 as reported from the food pantry. The following day, the Panrty gave out 18 bags of our donated foods. Lions are always serving the community. Our motto " We Serve!"

Beach Bag Project for Children in Need

The Beach Bag Project is vital to our community and one Thalia Lions is committed to continue supporting. Virginia Beach Education Foundation’s Beach Bag Project provides healthy meals to students who might otherwise go hungry over weekends, holidays, and lengthy school breaks. Students who are well nourished and aren’t worried about how they’ll find food to eat over weekends and breaks are better able to stay focused on their education. School counselors and social workers identify food-insecure students, request Beach Bags from the foundation which are discretely placed in students’ backpacks. Each bag contains 2 breakfast meals, 2 lunch/snacks, 2 dinner meals plus 2 cartons of milk. For this reason, and many more, this program.

In 2012 Thalia Lions' interest in the Beach Bag Project began when White Oaks Elementary School had a class of children that seemed in need and was not being served by the Beach Bag Project. A member of the club, Lion Susan Sumnick, had a daughter, Michala, who was teaching at the school. Michala was providing snacks at her own expense to her students. The White Oaks Principal asked various organizations, teachers and volunteers to step up and provide these children with bags of food. Thalia Lions volunteered, packing 120 bags. A month later, Thalia Lions again packed 50 more bags for White Oaks. Seeing the need firsthand, Thalia Lions became involved with the Beach Bag Project.

In October 2016 Thalia Lions received a grant of $2,000 from Lions Club International (LCI) and Anthem which provided supplies for 1200 food bags. Thalia Lions organized teams of members and friends to assist in packing the bags with the food supplies. Since that time Thalia Lions has acquired grants each year to fund the project through Lions Club International, Anthem, and the Lions Charity Foundation of Southeastern Virginia (LCFSV).

October 6, 2022, Thursday night 6-8 p.m., Virginia Beach Corporate Landing Middle School, Beach Bag Project.
On an ordinary evening Thalia Lions hosted seventy-one Lions and friends spending about two hours preparing weekend bags for 2000 school children. How can this happen? How can there be hungry children in a prosperous community school system? The lamentable statistics are that in the 81 schools of the Virginia Beach School System, almost 40% quality for free lunches. Teachers and administrators identify children who may be malnourished as manifest by lack of attention, listlessness and behavior in addition to direct complaints of hunger. In 2022 at least 1200 children were identified.

Beach Bags has grown to a Thalia Lions annual event that can in one evening pack 2000 to 3000 bags to help the continuing effort of the school system. In 2022 the Charity Foundation of Southeastern Virginia granted Thalia Lions Club $7,000 to pay for the event. Though much of the food is from suppliers who can provide special pricing for charity, in the current economy this generous grant limited the number of meals packed on October 6, 2022, to about 2000, instead of the usual 3000. A well-organized gathering of six local Lions clubs (Thalia, Bayside, Kempsville, Town Center Blind, Filipino American, Oceanside and Aragona-Woodstock), Broad Bay Ladies Golf Association, Virginia Beach Christian Church, Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) members, and many friends and family totaling seventy-one people met at 6 p.m. in the Corporate Landing Middle School lunch room. After a brief introduction describing the event, teams manned nine tables with packers, quality control checkers, recyclers and suppliers. A large pile of food in boxes was at the head of each table. Two persons on each side packed food in plastic shopping bags, each bag was checked as correct, and then groups of 10 bags were packed in plastic totes. Every bag had a card giving credit to the Lions and the Virginia Beach Education Foundation. Clean-up crews flattened and packed empty boxes for recycling. Every one of the 71 volunteers busily worked for about two hours in this very efficient system organized by Deborah Hughes, Director of the V.B.E.F.

As Lions, we serve by example! Because this project is so meaningful, finding volunteers is easy. This is how a heterogeneous grouping of many who were strangers come together to serve the community by packaging meals to feed 2000 hungry children in two hours!

/\ Corporate Landing Middle School, Beach Bag Project /\

Adopt a Student

There's always another project.This time, Thalia Lions and generous friends sponsored 32 homeless students in the "Adopt a Student" project through ForKids and administered by Image Services. Thanks to all who purchased a bookbag and filled it with required school supplies. The ID of the students was anonymous. Each bookbag was delivered by Image Services to the appropriate shelter. What a wonderful business with whom to partner!

Aug 24, 2022 - Lion Susan Sumnick delivered the book bags which went to four shelters serving 130 school children. . .

Public Schools and the Community

Saturday March 2, 2019, Landstown High School: Thalia Lions participated in Expo, a collaboration between Virginia Beach City Public Schools and the community. Expo is free, open to the public, and features representatives from more than 100 school division partnerships, including local businesses and non-profit, faith-based, military, civic or educational organizations. These groups work with schools each day to design innovative, mutually beneficial educational opportunities to meet the unique needs of students and schools.
This activity is continuing.

 

Lion Nancy Watters helps out at the annual Expo event.

2023, the Sight & Hearing Van

In 2016, from their 30-year-old building about a mile from the heart of Town Center, the Adult Learning Center moved to unused space at the Renaissance Academy, 5100 Cleveland St., a school geared toward students with disciplinary problems. Thalia Lions has sponsored the Sight & Hearing Van just outside the Adult Learning for over 25 years where around a 100 people are screened each year for vision and hearing, and many are tested for high blood sugar (diabetes), the #1 cause of blindness. Lion volunteers, spouses and friends help this important service each year!

Holiday Care Packages for Service Members

In coordination with the USO of Virginia Beach Thalia Lions participated in preparing Holiday Care Packages for service members. Since the USO program was launched in 2011, nearly 1,500 boxes have been distributed bringing holiday cheer to more than 110,000 service members in more than 500 locations. Sailors who received toiletries and other hard to find items were donated by Thalia Lion members and wrapped up.  There were between 30 and 40 in all for delivery by the USO.
This program continues periodically.

A young sailor shows great surprise and delight when presented with her package

The Lion Bill Hadden Project, Clothing Donations
Remote Area Medical (RAM)

For 2014 Lion Linda Eggleston spearheaded the 24-D collection of clothing for distribution at Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic held each year the third week of July at the Wise County, Virginia Fairgrounds. Gently used clothing and new underwear and socks for all ages, all sizes, all sexes, all seasons are collected from donors.  Started in 2004 by Lions Club member Bill Haddon of Lynchburg, Virginia, and with encouragement from Lions Clubs across the state, the program grew as more and more members brought clothes for distribution to patients who were attending the clinic. The remarkable part of the story is that Bill Haddon was in his eighties and legally blind when he started this program. In 2011, Bill was unable to return to RAM because of health problems. To continue the program members of the Episcopal Church Redeemer, Midlothian stepped in to help the Lions distribute the clothing, and in 2014 Redeemer, Midlothian Lou Markwith (phone: 804-239-5303 - email: ln_markwith@verzion.net) took the lead as coordinator.  A number of churches in the Midlothian have stepped in to help. Cloths not picked up by patients at RAM are sent to three shelters in Southwest Virginia and the Lions Club of Norton to be distributed through their clothing outreach programs. Lion Linda brings Lion’s District 24-D into the host of donor organizations with several car loads of cloths from various going to the 2014 RAM, Jul 18-20^th.
This program lasted until 2018. 

               Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic Wise County, Virginia Fairgrounds

Project Homeless Connect

Thalia Lions along with other area Lions participates in Norfolk’s Homeless Connect each year in the Scope’s Exhibition Hall. Lions Mobile Sight & Hearing Van is there providing screening for hearing, eye pressure, vision, blood sugar, and blood pressure. Reading glasses are provided, a simple low-cost item, that many do not have. In addition to the Lions van, Project Homeless Connect features medical providers, housing and employment agencies, donated goods and services from local businesses and faith organizations, haircuts, clothes, shoes, toiletries and food. Services and resources are designed to assist persons in moving closer to ending their homelessness. Thalia Lions participated until 2019.

                         Norfolk’s Homeless Connect in Scope’s Exhibition Hall

Blood Drive

Below is a pictures from the Blood Drive at Virginia Beach Christian Church on Aug 12, 2013.  The Red Cross collected 36 pints of blood. During the Blood Drive, Thalia Lions set up a canopy outside the church and sold $50.00 worth of umbrellas, $6.00 in mints, and $482.00 for brooms, making a total of $538.00 for the day.  Thanks to all the Lions who toughed out the heat and humidity, i.e., Lions John, Ed, Aziz, Jim, Jack, Stan.  And thank to the Lions who worked inside in the air conditioning managing the Blood Drive, Lions, i.e., Susie, Nurys, Linda, Jeri, and Bob Perrine.  It was an exhausting but rewarding day. We have a great group of Lion workers!!
Thalia Lions has been assisting with this blood drive ever since.

 

      Aug 12, 2013 - The Annual Red Cross Blood Drive at VA Beach Christian Church

The Samaritan House

The Thalia Lions Club assisted the Samaritan House’s food bank (pantry) for many years until 2018. At each Thalia Lion's meeting Lion Jack Wagner accepted donations with his wife Joan on the active end of our donations.
Thalia Lions started their food bank program in response to International Lions Club President Wing Kun Tam’s (2011-2012) call for local Lion’s Clubs to help support local food banks in joining the fight against hunger. Thalia Lions chose the Samaritan House food pantry program. Thalia’s generosity has been exceptional and of great benefit to these abused women and their children.
The Samaritan House at 2620 Southern Blvd, Virginia Beach, 23452, provides families with food, shelter, toiletries, supportive services, personal needs and financial assistance for about $13 per person per day.
The Samaritan House is a non-profit organization providing families living in a domestic violence environment and families without a home
- a refuge.
- freedom and safety from domestic abuse and homelessness.
- education in regaining control and becoming self-sufficient in order to begin a new and better life.
One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Almost one-third of female homicide victims that are reported in police records are killed by an intimate partner. This information is provided by National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

                    The Samaritan House at 2620 Southern Blvd, Virginia Beach

Social Services Holiday Project

In Dec 2013 the Virginia Beach Department of Social Services Head Start provided Thalia Lions with five families whose children would be going without holiday gifts, warm clothing and enough food; and a community food bank identified a family in need. Thalia had funds from the club charitable fund account to help only one family and chose the Scott family with 5 children. With Thalia funds and personal contributions Lion Jack Wagner and his wife, Joan, put together a Thalia Lions Holiday care package and met with the Scott family giving them toys, food, coats, gloves, and hats for the children and mother. In addition they were provided funds to purchase a turkey or ham. 
The story does not end with just one family. Thalia Lions stepped up with their own private funds to provide the same type of Holiday for the other four families. Each year Thalia Lions have been providing a Holiday for families chosen by Social Services. For 2018 Social Services increased the list to seven families. Using their own private funds club members again provided a Holiday for all seven families with toys, food, winter coating, plus funds to purchase a turkey or ham.

Those Who Made a Difference
Through the Years

Happy 90th Birthday Lion Mike Coren. Born Feb 1, 1933, in 1961 Mike joined Lions in New York. Moving to Virginia Beach in 2010, he transferred his membership to Thalia Lions. He now holds the distinction of being the second longest serving Lion in Virginia, a service that includes volunteering for just about every project that has come along.

Lion Nancy Watters has embraced every Thalia Lions Club project that has come along. In a nut shell Lion Nancy is not only the engine and the caboose of Thalia Lions, but everything in between. She has kept the club from derailing, and is the steam of a club noted as one of the best in all of Virginia and perhaps in all of the 47,000 clubs in over 200 countries and geographic regions.
When Lion Bob Perrine became President in 2009, he asked Lion Nancy to be the club Secretary, a job, he said, required little work. She quickly hitched up to the most laborious job Thalia Lions has to offer. At every regular meeting and Board of Directors meeting since April 2009, Lion Nancy has meticulously copied down the accounts of the meeting (available on the Thalia Lions website - see below).
Some of her more notable efforts are:
*Began using a new PediaVision (now called SPOT) screening devise in September 2010. SPOT tests pre-school children in detecting a vision condition that, if not corrected, can result in reduced vision followed by poor performance in school. Lion Nancy was subsequently appointed the PediaVision Chair for the district to organize training and use of the devices. By 2022, through her promotion of grants and donations, about 17 SPOTs were in use in 24-I districts. Together they have screened more than 200,000 children under the age of 10 with that total growing every day. Lion Nancy sets up SPOT in school and pre-schools. Along with just a few Lions volunteers, as many as 100 or more pre-school children are tested in a day. Lion Nancy could not have accomplished this using old photo screeners, but through research and grant requests by her husband, Lion John, the new SPOT was first obtained which is much faster with more accurate screening.
*Traveled with her husband to distant Wise County to participate in the 2009 Remote Area Medical (RAM) Expedition, attending with other Thalia Lions and in several years to follow. Some people waited in their cars or camped out all night in line for free medical and other free services they could not normally afford.
*Researched and found organizations willing to make grants of 100's of children’s books. Many sparked their reading interest such as My First Book of Trains by Kristina Holzweiss, a colorful introduction to trains for kids ages 3 to 5. Lion Nancy not only handed out books but sat with children making a fun game out of each book.
Lion Nancy has participated in National Read Across America Day since 2015, an annual event, to make the world a better place by emphasizing children are never too young to start reading and highlighting that learning by reading is fun.

 
 

2 Mar 2017 -Lion Nancy is reading Dr. Seuss’s “I can Read with my Eyes Shut” to 2 yr. olds at Broad Bay Manor Preschool on Read Across America Day

Pictured above is Lion Nancy Waters (right) presenting the Lion of the 2020-2021 Year award to Susan Sumnick

Lion Susan Sumnick's high moral character, strong empathy for mankind, forward and creative thinking, and volunteer spirit makes Lion Susan a true Lion at heart. She volunteered several years with the Thalia Lions who worked the RAM (Remote Area Medical) project in Wise Co., Va. and other locations. She packed many bags of food, at her own expense, for her daughter’s classroom Beach Bag Project. She has been sight chair for many years working with doctors in our community to provide eye exams and glasses to those in need. In 2019-20, she organized and brought to fruition the Vet House toiletries collection, the ForKids cleaning supply collection, and the water bottle project for three elementary schools. You can always depend on Lion Susan Sumnick to offer great ideas, experienced leadership, and a willing heart.

Lion Commander Dallas Divelbiss (Ret.), No one represented the club more than Lion Dallas Divelbiss, President in 1992 and again in 2000. Door-to-door broom sales started out of Lion Dallas’ garage, followed by a picnic at his home. He attended meetings even after his hearing completely failed as a result of service in Vietnam. In his final days his daughter took care of him as his Alzheimer’s disease progressed. After a long battle with dementia and heart disease, we lost a loving, Lion Dallas at the age of 87, Saturday, March 9, 2019. Even near the end, his quick wit and smile blessed those around him.

Lion Edgar E. DeLong, 2015, served for 23 years and twice as club president. He was instrumental in establishing the District’s Bland Competition and directing their Bland Memorial Music Scholarship program for eleven years. He was chairperson of the Adult Learning Center and Princess Anne High School Scholarship program for many years, and also for many years he organized trips to the Eye Glass Recycling Center. Further, he maintained a data base for hearing aids. Even with failing health, Lion Ed would still attend every club meeting and work most service projects. He is the example of what a Lion should be due to his dedication, his passion, his love for other people, and his willingness to serve. Lion Ed made every situation more joyous. Every Thalia Lion who knew him will miss him. He was a true Lion. He served to his last breath.

Pictured above is Lion Debra Laughlin in yellow at the 2022 Hampton Roads Visionwalk.

Lion Debra Laughlin joined Thalia Lions in 2011 and began advancing the idea of having Lions participate in a Hampton Roads Visionwalk. Lion Debra must be given a Lion’s share of the credit for the first Visionwalk in April 2012 when 600 Lions and non-Lion walkers showed up (the largest inaugural Visionwalk ever) and on up through 2014 with the Hampton Roads Visionwalk turning over more than $300,000 to Foundation Fighting Blindness for their three annual walks. For the 2014 walk Lion Debra brought the whole district into the cause by having 24I challenge other Lion Districts to a fund-raising contest with 24I winning by raising $10,032. With all these firsts, it’s no wonder the Foundation Fighting Blindness awarded Lion Debra as the 2014 Volunteer of the Year.

Those Who Led Thalia Lions
Through the Years

Following is a list of presidents since the inception of the club. Those with an asterisk (*) in front of their name, are deceased (that we know).

Roger Snell 2025
Jack Wagner 2022-24 - serving a two year term
Nancy Nelson 2021-22
Jeri Furman 2020-21
Ellen Turman 2019-20
John Watters 2018-19
Debra Laughlin 2017-18
Nancy Watters 2016-17
Irene Conlin 2015-16

Aziz Selahi 2014-15

Rich Roberts 2013-14

Roger Snell 2012-13

Jeri Furman 2011-12

Steve Rosnov 2010-11

Bob Perrine 2009-10

Bill Pope 2008-09

John Watters 2007-08

Stanley Furman 2006-07

Bradley Furman 2005-06

Alton Miller 2004-2005

*Ed DeLong 2003-04

Martin Joseph 2002-03

Bill Pope 2001-02

*Dallas Divelbiss 2000-01

Roger Snell 1999-00

M Ramsey-Lester 1998-99

Dick Kressig 1997-98

Roger Snell 1996-97

Dick Kressig 1995-96

*Ed DeLong 1994-95

Martin Joseph 1993-94

*Dallas Divelbiss 1992-93

Dallas Mathews 1991-92

Joel Womack 1990-91

Darl Anderson 1989-90

*Phil Gundel 1988-89

Dallas Mathews 1987-88

David Trevino 1986-87

*Douglas Aydlette 1985-86

Alton Miller, PDG 1984-85

*Sam Ferrell 1983-84

*George Powell 1982-83

*Eli Chertoff 1981-82

*Walker Young 1980-81

Don Harvey 1979-80

*Palle Bistrup 1978-79

*Bill Halteman 1977-78

Earl Evans 1776-77

*Leslie Bell 1975- 76

*Alexander Cavey 1974-75

*Michael Clevenger 1973-74

*Jim Crouch 1972-73

*Joe Bright 1971-72

Vic Johnson 1970-71

*Lee Kelberg 1969-70

Morris Wright 1968-69

A.C. Clark 1967-68

Walter Campbell 1966-67