• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

MarionMade

People, Places, Products, Programs

Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On YoutubeCheck Our FeedVisit Us On Instagram
We Are Having Fun!We Are Presidential!We Are Generous!
  • Get Involved
  • About
  • Events
    • MarionMade! 5k Sign Up
  • People
  • Places
  • Products
  • Programs
  • Links
  • Contact

Ridgedale Lions Club

By MarionMade! on June 5, 2020

The Ridgedale Lions Club has been serving the community since 1964 and is one of six Lions Clubs in Marion County. Each of the local Lions clubs is part of Lions Clubs International, which is the largest service organization in the world with over 1.4 million members. Their mission is to empower volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace, and promote international understanding. Globally the Lions Clubs International focuses on these areas- vison, environment, hunger, diabetes, childhood cancer, and disaster relief efforts.

The Ridgedale Lions support the community through performing service projects and fundraising.  All proceeds from these go towards donations to support the Club’s focus areas. Currently, the service projects include spring and fall highway cleanup, ringing the bells for the Salvation Army during the Christmas holiday season, Mobile Meals delivery, and collecting eyeglasses.  Their members also have a long tradition of serving as assistants on the sidelines with the 10 yards downs marker, taking the measurements for Ridgedale home football games.  Recently a large undertaking was the purchase and placement of a shelter at a lake area along Herr Road in the Marion Tallgrass Trail.

The Club’s fundraisers include their annual Daytona 500 NASCAR night, White Cane sales, and Mother’s Day rose sales. Past fundraisers included fish fries and selling light bulbs, brooms, calendars, sausage, and pumpkins.

The Ridgedale Lions fund local needs that include Ridgedale Schools & Ridgedale Boosters, paying for eye exams and glasses for those in need, Chapel Hill House, Heart of Ohio Homeless Shelter, Marion General Hospital Foundation Diabetes Fund, Marion Veterans Park, and the Eye to Eye Program. They also support some Ohio vision programs including Pilot Dogs, VOICEcorps, Newsreel, Canines for Companions, and other vision-related funds.

At Ridgedale High School, this Lions Club sponsors a Leo Club.  The Ridgedale Leo Club is the longest sustained Leo organization in the state of Ohio, having been chartered in 1974. A Leo Club (Leadership, Experience, Opportunity) provides high school students an opportunity to develop leadership skills and encourages developing a spirit of community service.

Leo Club members perform service projects and do fundraising during the school year, with fundraising proceeds being used to buy Christmas presents for several families in the Marion Christmas Clearinghouse program. The Ridgedale High School Leo Club service projects include playing bingo with residents at Marion Manor several times a year, helping with the annual spring cleanup at Chapel Hill House, and serving at the Ridgedale Boosters Fish Fry, Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast and the Farm Bureau Farmers Care Breakfast.

Ridgedale High School Leo Club members
Ridgedale High School Leo Club members wrapping presents for Christmas Clearinghouse families

The Ridgedale Leo Club was honored this year to finish in 2nd place in the Ohio Leo Club of the Year contest. Four members of the Ridgedale Lions Club serve as advisors for the Leos.   They are proud to see the future generation’s commitment to service and community improvement.  The Ridgedale Lions Club is gratified to see the hard work of this Leo Club.

The 42 members of the Ridgedale Lions Club, along with the members of the Green Camp, LaRue, Marion Evening, Pleasant and Prospect Lions Clubs, all embrace the Lions motto “We Serve”.   Again showing the strong commitment our service club members have for the Marion County community.

Recent MarionMade! Stories

  • Jodi Rife Loves Sparkle in Children’s Faces At the Holidays

    Jodi Rife was born in Marion. After graduating from Harding High School in 1985, she moved to Dublin but came back here to raise her family. Rife’s career and volunteer efforts are focused on helping children in Marion, especially at the holidays. For 25 years, Rife has served as the director of the Christmas Clearinghouse, […]Read More »
  • Johnny Steiner

    STEINER͛S VOICE IS HEARD THROUGHOUT CENTRAL OHIO AND BEYOND. You might know Johnny Steiner from his days in Green Camp, where he grew up, or at Elgin High School, or especially at the Marion Palace Theatre, where he performed his favorite roles include Billy in “Carousel” and Curly in “Oklahoma!”. In 2005, he played the […]Read More »
  • Schifer is enriching lives through Mary Kay

    Though not originally from Marion, has not been far. Coming from Bucyrus and a graduate of Colonel Crawford, Schifer attended The Ohio State University at Marion. She graduated as an Economics major with a minor in Finance. Schifer started selling Mary Kay in 2015 part-time. “If I sold one mascara a week, it would pay […]Read More »
  • Norma Jacob

    Norma Jacob has called Marion home for 74 years. When the almost 99-year-old was told to keep her active lifestyle she needed a total knee replacement, she didn’t hesitate. Neither did her orthopedic surgeon, who deemed her physically fit to undergo a major operation at an advanced age. Five weeks after, Norma was back home […]Read More »

Share Your MarionMade! Story

Click Here to share your story about MarionMade! people, places, products, and programs!
  • Get Involved
  • About
  • Events
  • People
  • Places
  • Products
  • Programs
  • Links
  • Contact

Marion Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Downtown Marion Love INC Marion Public Library Marion Area Chamber of Commerce Marion CANDO! Marion Community Foundation United Way of Marion County Marion Technical College

© 2025 · MarionMade! is a community initiative led by Marion Technical College · Website is powered by Neighborhood Image