KENT—The newest president of the Kent Lions Club has connections that stretch back to its beginning.
Karren Garrity, who has been a member for eight years and served as a vice president for three years, was elected by the members June 19 to be the service club’s top leader. The club was hosted by David Schreiber of Club Getaway for the end-of-the-year dinner, which has become an annual tradition for the group.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be building on the building blocks that others before me have done,” Garrity said during a recent interview. She has served as a vice president under Marty Lindenmayer, Darlene Brady and most recently, Glenn Sanchez.
“They all brought a different skillset to the table and I learned from each of them,” she said.
Garrity’s father, David Bain, is a charter member of the club and her husband, Chris, is a 34-year member. The club began in 1978.
The club raises money and then gives it away to non-profits. They also provide up to four scholarships a year. This year’s graduating high school recipients are Taylor Christen and Eason Zhang from Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Each receives $1,500 for college. There is also a community service scholarship.
Sanchez is stepping down after one year in the president’s chair. He is confident that Garrity will provide strong leadership to the club.
“Karren Garrity is a longtime resident, who knows a lot of people and a lot of institutions. She’s very organized and pretty savvy with social media. She’s going to work very well with a strong executive board,” he said Wednesday. “All those reasons make her an ideal president of the Lions Club. She’ll be really good.”
The next meeting of the club will be in September. They meet on the third Wednesday of the month in the evening, usually at Bulls Bridge Inn. The club recently launched a new website, www.kentlions.org.
Garrity wants to increase membership and the camaraderie within the club.
“I plan on keeping the meetings upbeat and fun and keeping people engaged,” she said. “This is a fun organization on a board level.”
Garrity has plenty of experience on nonprofit and municipal boards. She served on the Kent Board of Education, the Board of Selectmen as well as the Kent Energy and Environmental Task Force. She just stepped down after nine years on the board of the Foundation for Community Health. She also previously served on the library board, as a member of Kent Volunteer Fire Department and chaired the Firemen’s Ball Committee for many years. She helped found the Kent Education and Learning Foundation (KELF), which is now an endowed fund at Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
This year’s executive board of the Kent Lions is:
President: Karren Garrity
First VP: Jonathan Matson
Second VP: Diane Impastado
Third VP: Norm Moser
Fourth VP: James Vick
Treasurer: Patty Hicks
Secretary: Diane Impastato
Membership Chair: Cathe Mazza
Tail Twister: Norm Mosher
Lion Tamer: Ed Matson
Garrity sees the Kent Lions Club as an important organization that provides both funding and services to the town.
“There is a wide variety of people who are members and that keeps the club very vibrant. The members bring into projects and conversations a wide array of backgrounds. There are all these funnels of information and interests. Internally as a group, it is interesting and growing,” Garrity said.
Service is provided through many different projects. There are quarterly food drives for the food bank, blood drives that happen every other month, help with the Appalachian Trail invasive weeding project, support for the Polar Bear Run at Lake Waramaug, just to name a few.
Eyesight is one of the big things for Lions. There is a collection box for used eyeglasses and hearing aids at the IGA. Internationally the organization puts a lot of resources into improving eyesight in developing countries.
There have been some things that lapsed and were not restarted after Covid, including the eye exams at Kent Center School, and Garrity looks forward to working on bringing some things back to the club.
Each month usually features a speaker and during the next meeting in September they will host Kent Memorial Library Director Sarah Marshall, who will talk about the building expansion plans. Mike Shea of Blondin Shea Eye Care in Kent will be speaking in the fall.
“The Lions touches a lot of different parts of Kent and the tag line is ‘We Serve,’ “ Garrity said. “I’m excited about what we can do in the next year.”
There are many examples of fundraising they do and the largest is operating the food booth at the spring and fall show at the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association (CAMA).
One hesitation she had about being president was that her oldest daughter, Roxanne, is getting married in the fall. The date is the same as CAMA Fall Festival. However, she’s pleased that Jonathan Matson has stepped up to say that he’ll be the lead person in the planning and executive of the food tent for the event.
The Lions like to set good examples of what it means to volunteer in their community. One example Garrity shared was from several years ago when the Kent School Varsity Hockey team reached out to coordinate its fundraising game with the Kent Lions. They had special jerseys made up and they auctioned off the jerseys.
“Because the Lions Club sign is posted all over town, the student captain of the soccer team reached out and said ‘We’re (Kent) Lions and you’re Lions and we see you all over the place and we’d like to make you the beneficiary of our game,’ “ Garrity said. It was a donation of just over $1,000.
She saw that as a great example of how the word does reach members of the community that the Lions do community service.
Sometimes groups reach out to the club for the manpower that the club is able to provide. She pointed to the parking that Lions Club members have staffed at the summer concert series in years past, in cooperation with Kent Park and Recreation and the Kent Lions Club.
“As a volunteer entity, I think it is super important to be able to do both,” Garrity said of both the fundraising and help provided to other organizations and the town.
(Editor’s Note: This article was updated July 4 at 6:15 p.m. to change the word Soccer to Hockey.)
