(This article was written by Abigail Muniz-Garcia and appeared in the July 2024 issue of Explore Harlingen Magazine.)
Julio Guerra remembers how just two years ago, the Harlingen Amigas Lions Club dwindled in size to three active local members. Guerra, who has been a member for 14 years, is currently the president of the Amigas chapter.
“A lot of people had retired, a lot of people had moved away… and it got to the point that it was only three left,” he said.
He relates that their yearly enchilada plate fundraiser in 2022 was a challenge due to the number of members they had. Nonetheless, the club was able to pull through and fundraise.
“We did it, we still did it… I think we sold 300 tickets that time,” he said with a smile.
Lions Club at the international level was founded in 1917 to meet the needs of local communities. They are known for helping to combat blindness, but they serve in many other areas including the environment, feeding the hungry, and helping senior citizens and the disabled.
The money that the Amigas chapter fundraises yearly goes to various causes including paying for meals for children and sometimes even parents at the Children’s Bereavement Center RGV in Harlingen and partnering with the local school district to help provide glasses for children among other causes.
Their chapter, which was founded in 1990, came into existence after a group of women established the club.
“The late Lion Helen Muse and three other teachers wanted to join a local Lion’s Club but at that time women were called Lioness,” Yolanda Brydone, secretary of the club, said. Brydone, who has been a member for 19 years, mentions how Muse was committed to starting her own chapter.
“Helen wasn’t gonna have it. She said no, we want to be Lions, so they opened their own chapter,” she said.
It wasn’t until 1987 that Lions Club International began allowing women to be Lions.
“So that’s why it’s called Amigas,” Guerra said. “But then the husbands started showing up too and becoming members. If we wanted to rename the chapter, we would have to close it and open up another one and we’d lose all those years.”
So the name stuck.
Since its inception, the Harlingen Amigas Lions Club has seen their membership numbers fluctuate but currently, the club has 18 members.
Some of their recent partnerships include helping serve meals with Loaves and Fishes of the RGV and boxing meals for the food pantry at the Salvation Army of Harlingen, which is where they hold their meetings every first and third Thursday of the month.
Both Brydone and Guerra’s passion for serving is apparent. They implore the public if they can’t volunteer time to help the community, there are other ways to get involved.
“Donations… we also do garage sales,” Guerra said. “Nothing is wasted.”
“Our Lion’s motto is to serve. That’s one word- serve. That’s what we do,” he said.
To learn more, please visit their website: https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/harlingen_amigas or follow them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/harlingenamigas.
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