Noble Park resident and dedicated volunteer David Poole received life membership for Lions International.
By Shaun Inguanzo
NOBLE Park’s highly decorated volunteer David Poole has been made a life member of Lions International.
The 66-year-old, fresh from winning Greater Dandenong Volunteer of the Year in January, was inducted as a life member at a meeting of the Noble Park-Keysborough Lions Club on Tuesday, 19 June.
Lions District Governor Neil Guscott presented the prestigious life membership to Mr Poole, which will enable him to visit any Lions Club around the world without having to pay fees.
Life membership is only awarded to the most dedicated of Lions members, and Mr Poole fits the profile.
Mr Poole said he had been with Noble Park-Keysborough Lions Club for 24 years and had no plans to stop his community service.
“I’ve held most positions within the club except for treasurer,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoy Lions.”
Mr Poole said he was delighted with how his club had accepted his daughter Tracey, 39, who suffers from cerebral palsy, into its activities.
“Tracey is a member and she really enjoys it,” Mr Poole said.
“She is a Lion Tamer – a person who looks after all the equipment and sets up the flags before a meeting and then puts them away.”
Mr Poole is also a familiar face at the City of Greater Dandenong Council, as he is the club’s main point of contact for organising community sausage sizzles.
But despite his long-term dedication to Lions, Mr Poole said service organisations were finding it increasingly difficult to attract new members, because today’s families lacked a culture of community service.
“If the family is community-minded then that attitude is handed on to younger generations,” he said.
“But families these days have too many other things to entertain them.”
Mr Poole encouraged more families to become involved.
“When you’re out in the community, whatever you do you always get something back in return,” he said.
“It’s either friendship, or you do a good turn for one person and they do a good turn for you when you need it.
“So you get a lot out of community service, as well as the self-satisfaction of helping others.”
Mr Poole joined the club when it was Noble Park Lions Club in 1983.
Towards the end of the decade the club faced the prospect of a Keysborough club being established but took steps to merge Keysborough and Noble Park Lions members under the one banner.
