With a long history of community service, the Battle Ground Lions Club is gearing up for a busy year in 2025 to enhance the local community through new and ongoing initiatives.
The Battle Ground Lions Club, part of the larger Lions Clubs International network, has been serving the Battle Ground community since 1971. The club is dedicated to addressing critical community needs, focusing on improving the local quality of life through projects centered on health, education and community support. According to Shelley Staudinger, a club member and communications representative, the Lions Club focuses on several key areas: childhood cancer, diabetes awareness, disaster relief, environmental sustainability, humanitarian initiatives, hunger and poverty, vision and hearing, and youth development.
This year, the local branch has set its sights on revitalizing community service projects, aiming to rebuild efforts to pre-pandemic levels. Staudinger explained this will be the local nonprofit’s 2025 New Year’s resolution.
“We have members serving, and if we have more activities, we can help more people serve the community and gain that community connection. That happens when you’re doing good deeds out in the community,” Staudinger said. “We like to say where there’s a need, there’s a lion.”
Over the years, the Battle Ground Lions Club has been involved in various community-focused initiatives. One of their ongoing projects includes providing shampoo and conditioner to Battle Ground Public Schools’ Family and Community Resource Center (FCRC), ensuring families in need have access to essential hygiene products that are often overlooked. The club also reads Dr. Seuss books and provides small American flags to Battle Ground Public Schools in collaboration with the district.
Additionally, the Battle Ground Lions Club continues its commitment to improving vision care worldwide through eyeglass sorting. Volunteers, including club members and Boy Scout Troop 344, sort donated eyeglasses into categories such as bifocals and readers. In the past year, these collected glasses were sent to the Northwest Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center, where they were inspected, cleaned and distributed to individuals in developing and remote regions across the globe.
In 2025, the Lions Club has several key community events planned:
Parks Appreciation Day
9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 19, 2025, at Florence Robinson Park North, 1901 NW Ninth St., Battle Ground
Lions Club volunteers will assist with park maintenance, including pulling weeds and addressing upkeep needs. Additionally, volunteers distribute birdhouse-building kits made from recycled wood for children to build and take home their creations every year.
Shred Day
10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, May 3, 2025, at the Battle Ground Albertson’s parking lot, 2108 W. Main St.
This event provides free shredding of personal documents and selected electronics, with donations accepted to support community service efforts.
National Night Out
Scheduled for August, this community gathering will take place at a chosen Battle Ground park, focusing on crime and drug prevention. The Lions Club will collaborate with the Cascade Pacific Council of Scouting America, showcasing a Lego Pinewood Derby track for kids to race miniature cars, adding an engaging activity to the event.
Walk & Knock Food Drive
The Lions Club will continue its support of the annual Walk & Knock one-day food drive, which took place on Dec. 7 last year. Volunteers regularly assist with food collection efforts benefiting the North Clark County Food Bank in Battle Ground, contributing to hunger relief in the community.
Additionally, the club will launch a new initiative to support local youth in 2025. On Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, the Battle Ground Lions Club will host its annual Crabaganza crab dinner fundraiser at the Battle Ground Community Center. The event, expected to sell out by press time, raises proceeds that continue the club’s year-round efforts. One major development is the establishment of a scholarship for students serving in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (AFJROTC) to assist with higher education. The number of scholarships awarded and the total amount will depend on the fundraising success of the Crabaganza event.
“We partner with the ROTC with the students in the ROTC. At our Crabaganza, they actually are the waiters for us in the dining room during the event, and so we have a longtime relationship with them. Since they served together with us, we would like to serve them by providing scholarship opportunities for them, and certainly, we want to support their mission, which is to develop citizens of character,” Staudinger said.
The Battle Ground Lions Club is always looking for new ideas and potential collaborations for service projects. The Battle Ground Lions Club meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at Old Town Burger, 813 W. Main St., Battle Ground. For more information, email bglionsclub@yahoo.com, or call 360-263-4024.
“We’re there to connect people to each other and to these projects. Anybody looking for ways to build community into their life is welcome,” Staudinger said.
