Community

On juiy 27 American Legions Gordon Mattison post 422 recognizea their outgoing Post Commander, Frank Harrison (in red) for his 7 years of service as Post Commander (2012-2016, 2017-2020). Commander Paul Dempsey awarded him with a plaque. COURTESY PHOTO

My husband and I lived and worked in the Austin area for nearly 35 years. We lived in a rather rural area, not having any neighbors for probably 20 of those 35 years. Then in 2009 we moved to a new house in a real neighborhood. I had neighbors for the first time in many years. We were very anxious to get to know our neighbors and share life with them. Well funny thing, our new neighbors were Lions Club members. The club they belonged to was a very busy Lions Club with a large membership. In the fall this club ran the concession stands at the Jr. High and High School football games, did eye exams in elementary schools, and handed out popcorn every year at the local Halloween festival in town and best of all, every spring they ran a world class Weiner Dog Race Festival. This Weiner Dog Race brings in thousands of people from around the world who want to race their Weiner dogs. Anyway... our neighbors, being very active Lions Club members invited us to help with some of their projects...well let me rephrase that..our neighbor’s mother is Nancy Handrick, President of the Club at that time, and so when Nancy asked you to help with something, you helped. There is no way you were ever going to say NO to Ms. Nancy. She is a little woman with a big boss factor. A women who never stands still. I don’t think she even sleeps! So, every Friday night in the fall we were working in the concession stands selling Frito pies and BBQ sandwiches or carrying bottles of water and bags of ice. Then in the spring it was Weiner Dog Race time! We would register almost 400 cute little Weiner dogs to race on a 110 foot track or we would mark off vendor booths spaces and judge BBQ contest, (my favorite thing to do). We had a ton of fun. But you know what? We never became members of that club. We never joined. Ms. Nancy tried hard to get us to become official members but we never gave it our full commitment. I loved what this Lions Club was doing. I loved how they were serving in the community. But, we were busy working at our jobs and my husband isn’t what you call a “joiner”, if you know what I mean. He was happy just volunteering without the commitment.

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