Since April, members of the North Royalton Lions Club have been working diligently to collect plastic with one aim in mind, to have it made into a bench for use in the City. Now, five hundred pounds later, (equal to about 40,500 plastic bags), one of two benches have been constructed and are awaiting the location where they will serve as a brief respite for residents.
Lions Club President Dan Lester said that the club has made arrangements with Giant Eagle and the Trex company for the project. They heard through another Lions Club that the Trex Company has a Bags to Benches program. Trex is a composite decking manufacturer. They sponsored the challenge to groups and organizations to collect five hundred pounds of plastic film and they would receive a free high-performance, composite bench in appreciation for their community recycling effort. “Trex’s premium composite decking is made from recycled grocery bags and other plastic film,” according to the Nextrex website.”
Lester said that the organizations can participate in the program twice a year. “We try to work on projects that will benefit the community,” he said. They currently are working on wrapping up the second bench and are pondering another for next year. Members of the 55-member group collected the various forms of plastic allowable, such as plastic bags, bubble wrap and plastic wrap. Twice a month, at each Lions Club meeting, the members collected the plastic, had it weighed and hauled it to Giant Eagle.
The ultimate location for the benches has not been certified yet, but Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz said that he’s considering placing them at the new Senior Center that will be located at the former Royal View School. “I think that would make a good spot for the seniors,” he said. On the donation of the benches, he added, “I appreciate everything the Lions have done for the City. They continue to be one of the strongest clubs we have, always looking for ways to help improve the quality of life of our residents. They’re always the first ones to come to the table and this is just another way of how they help out. The benches will be put to good use in the future at the Senior Center.”
The Lions motto is “We Serve.” The Lions Clubs were organized to help meet the needs of local communities. The Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization, with about 1.4 million members in more than 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographic areas. They were founded in 1917 and are best known for fighting blindness. However, they are involved in many different types of community projects and grants. Since 1968, the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) has awarded more than $700 million in grants to support Lions humanitarian projects around the world. For more about Lions Clubs, go to www.lionsclubs.org
To see what the North Royalton Lions are up to, visit their Facebook page. They will be hosting their annual Clambake and Reverse Raffle on October 1 and a Ladies Only Reverse Raffle Luncheon on October 26. For more information on the club and their events, email nrlions@aol.com.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer