Two $1,000 Abbeville Lions Club scholarships were recently presented to two young college-bound ladies, both graduates of Abbeville High School.
Janessa Haddon and Deliyah Tillman were presented with the scholarships last Thursday evening on Abbeville's Court Square by Abbeville lions Club past president J.J. Jackson, as family members and Lions looked on, with an abundance of picture taking.
Haddon and Tillman are both planning to study exercise science at their chosen colleges. Tillman plans to attend Winthrop, and Haddon, Lander.
"They have already graduated (from AHS) and will start classes at Winthrop and Lander this month," said Abbeville Lions Club secretary/treasurer Rick Pressly. "We only accept applications from the Senior Class each year."
The applications for the scholarship are given to a committee of the last three Lions Club past presidents. This year, that included Lion Jim Wilson, Lion Charles Goodwin, and Lion Sarah Kennerly. They each review the applications individually and then get together to make the selection of the top two candidates.
There were 11 applicants this year, and the selection is based primarily on the students' response to an essay on what "To Serve" means to them, Pressly said.
The Abbeville Lions Club is one of three Lions Clubs in Abbeville County. The other two are based in Due West and Calhoun Falls.
The Abbeville Lions Club, dating from the 1930s, is one of the oldest service clubs in Abbeville County.
One of the most charming ways Lions raise funds is to sell brooms, a fundraising mechanism that has been going on for many years.
The local Lions are all part of the worldwide network of Lions, an international service organization whose aims include sight preservation.
Helen Keller, at a Lions Convention in Ohio in the 1920s, called on her listeners to be "knights" for the blind.
Lions the world over appear to have heeded the call. There is a "leader dog" school in Michigan, with training dogs to help visually impaired individuals.