Review staff:
A long-time member of the Rimbey Lions Club was recently bestowed with the organization’s highest award of recognition.
During their monthly meeting, Lion President Alex Waldron presented Michael Jarmoluk, a member of the club for the past 51 years, with the Melvin Jones Fellow on behalf of the Lions Clubs International Foundation in recognition of his commitment to serving both the world and the local community.
For his many years of dedication, Jarmoluk was presented with a finely crafted plaque and a lapel pin acknowledging his dedication to the foundation’s humanitarian goals.
As a Melvin Jones Fellow, Jarmoluk became a part of a growing network of individuals committed to improving the quality of life at home and abroad.
“I’m honoured and very thankful to the club for this award. I remember when I first came to Rimbey and was asked to join the club, it was also a big honour for me,” the soft-spoken Jarmoluk said. “I thought the club was very worthwhile for the community because of the projects we undertook and that we needed. I’m going back some 50 years ago, but there was a need in the community to support the causes here like the old community hall and the swimming pool.”
Over his time with the Lions, he said some of the more memorable projects he and the club were involved with in the early days included selling light bulbs and Christmas cake door-to-door to raise money for a number or projects that are still around, and well-used today.
“The latest projects that I was involved in that are closest to my heart are the playgrounds and the walking trail. Another that I am proud of is Pancake Day, which we started in 1963 and still continues. I also ran Octoberfest, which I chaired for about 16 years and in the later days, I got involved with our casinos,” Jarmoluk said. “But the walking trail, I think is a great addition to the community. Of course, it wasn’t only me as it took the whole club working together to get these projects up and going.”
In summing up his many years of dedication to the club and the community, he mentioned how important the club has become in his life and called upon an old adage to put his feeling in perspective.
“The Lions are like my second family,” he said. “I like to use an expression that I try to live by that says, ‘the good you do today, most people will forget tomorrow. But do the good anyhow.’”
As for the future, Jarmoluk said he is looking forward to many more years of working with the Lions as well as a few other area service clubs.
“I’m getting old, but who knows,” said the 85-year old. “I told the Lions one time, maybe I’ll outlive my usefulness. Like I said, the Lions are like my family and I would like to stick with them forever.”
“I’m a life-member of the Lions, the Legion and the Knights of Columbus, so I told them with all this life, I’ll never die,” he said with a chuckle adding he is very thankful for his time with the Lions.
The rest of the community is too.