BRAZOS COUNTY, TX — It's been a year since the pandemic turned our worlds upside down. Through that time, some local non-profits like College Station Evening Lion's Club still struggle to navigate this very new normal.
College Station Evening Lion's Club is made up of about three dozen members with one thing in common- giving back. But the pandemic has tested the club's strength.
"We've noticed people in our own club falling off because you need to understand, this is a group of people who joined the Lion's Club because they have servant's hearts and when you are not able to serve, it kind of becomes, 'Well, why am I doing this?'," Brenda Hefner, treasurer, College Station Evening Lion's Club shared with 25 News.
The organization recently brought back in-person meetings, with the option to attend virtually.
As far as events, the group's held one fundraiser in November- Operation Flapjack.
"We threw this thing together in like three weeks. And we were able to give a couple of thousand dollars to the angel tree so that kids could have toys but that's it. Other than that, we're dead. We've been dead in water. We really have," Hefner said.
Their biggest fundraiser is an annual Skeet Shoot. In 2019 the springtime event raked in nearly 20 thousand dollars. Last year was canceled. Organizers have pushed this year's Skeet shoot to late summer, hoping their efforts will get back on track.
"We just don't know, but it's really crippled our abilities to help with our initiative," Hefner said.
Even with this troubling year, the treasurer believes this Lion's Club chapter will still persevere.
"Obviously it's a pandemic and it's tragic. It is. It's just tragic, but am I hopeful? Absolutely, because I have faith in our God."
College Station Evening Lion's Club plans plan to hold its Annual Skeet Shoot in either late August or sometime September.