Giving Rye: Meet the Rye City Lions Club
Giving Rye is a feature series highlighting non-profits and community groups in and around the City of Rye. Today meet Ann Higgins of the Rye City Lions Club.
Your Name: Ann Higgins
Organization: Rye City Lions Club
Your role: Co- President. (Note: Cathy Levy is the other co-president)
MyRye.com: Tell us your organization’s mission.
Higgins: The mission of the Lions Club is to serve our neighbors in whatever way we can and to encourage service-minded men and women in volunteer efforts that make their community a better place to live and work. Historically, Lions have focused primarily on providing services for the vision impaired, but we go beyond these efforts to support various community organizations that are providing other needed services to the families of Rye.
How long have you operated in Rye?
Higgins: The Rye City Lions Club is a chapter of Lions Club International and was founded in 1927. We are the oldest active service club in Rye. International Headquarters is located in Oak Brook, Illinois, and there are over 1,500,000 members in over 43,000 clubs in over 184 nations and geographic areas.
What programming or work in Rye is the organization best known for?
Higgins:
- Rye Lions Club sponsors the Scholar Athlete of the Month recognition and then honors all the recipients and the Scholar Athlete of the Year (who is chosen by the students at Rye High School) at a luncheon each Spring. It is our privilege to promote athleticism and scholarly excellence with this recognition and award.
- We encourage volunteerism in our community by awarding the James A. and Marian M. Shea Community Service Award for Outstanding Volunteerism each year.
- The other thing we are probably best known for is our support of the visually impaired. We not only collect used eyeglasses for recycling and distribution, but we also support organizations like Visions of Westchester and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Here in Rye, we provide funding for large print books and audio books for the Rye Free Reading Room.
Looking forward to 2025, what will be your top initiatives?
Higgins:
- We plan to continue our long standing traditions of honoring Rye High School Scholar Athletes and recognizing outstanding volunteerism with our Community Service Award next Fall.
- We will continue to support local organizations like the Rye YMCA and Rye Recreation and look forward to jumping in where needed to assist other volunteer organizations as we are able.
- We are making a real effort to grow our club, both in numbers and in visibility. With more active members, we can do even more to serve the Rye Community.
Tell us about the population you serve and how they can get involved with your programming and services.
Higgins: We primarily serve the people of Rye and our club is open to anyone who works or lives in the city of Rye. We welcome new members and invite anyone interested in our work to join us for one of our meetings to learn more.
Are you a 501(c)(3) non-profit with tax exempt status?
Higgins: Yes, we are a non-profit organization, and all our efforts are funded through the tax-deductible donations we receive from the members and the community. We are non-sectarian and non-political. We encourage our members to become interested and involved in community and civic affairs.
Looking back across 2024, what were your organization’s top achievements?
Higgins:
- We were delighted to honor the volunteer efforts of Kelly Janscki as the recipient of the James A. and Marion M. Shea Community Service Award at a celebration dinner held at Whitby Castle in November.
- In June, we awarded Lilly Whaling the Scholar Athlete of the Year and recognized all the other Athletes of the Month, their coaches, and their parents at a special luncheon held in their honor.
- We provided funding for scholarships to send children to Rye Rec’s summer camp program to ensure that all children have an opportunity to experience the fun and friendships of summer camp. We also support Rye YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program to help lower the risk for type-2 diabetes.
How can local residents support your organization?
Higgins: We are happy to welcome new members who live or work in Rye and would like to be a part of what we are doing. Please be our guest at one of our meetings and find out more about who we are. (We meet twice a month for lunch.) We are also grateful for any tax-deductible donations which fully go toward funding our initiatives to serve the community.
What local Rye residents and area businesses have been the longest, steadiest supporters of your organization?
Higgins: We are grateful for everyone in the community who has dropped off eyeglasses, put money in the Salvation Army kettle, or attended any of our functions. We are also grateful to Whitby Castle who has hosted our regular lunch meetings and to the folks at Rockridge Deli for graciously donating floral arrangements for our events. And we also appreciate all the businesses in Rye (you know who you are) who donate goods and services or who purchase ads in our event programs.
Tell us about you:
How long have you been in your current role?
Higgins: I have been co-President for the last two years (now serving with Cathy Levy) and I have been a member of the Lions Club since 2017.
Is the role full time or part time? Paid or volunteer?
Higgins: Cathy and I are both volunteers. Cathy works at the Osborn as Director of Development and Legislator and my “day job” is the Director of Development for Camp Brookwoods, Deer Run, and Moose River Outpost. (I spend the summer in New Hampshire and work remotely the rest of the year.)
How would your friends and family describe you in one word?
Higgins: Fun-loving
Where did you grow up?
Higgins: I grew up in rural Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the northern part of the state. My hometown of Nelson had a population of about 400 when I was growing up and my home county of Pickens is known for being the source of Georgia marble. As a matter of fact, the elementary school I attended (in Tate, GA) is made of marble and is a bit of a landmark.
What is your favorite unimportant thing about you?
Higgins: I make killer biscuits and gravy and refuse to lose my southern accent.
If the next five years is a chapter in your life, what is this chapter about?
Higgins: Learning to be an awesome Grandmother (“Granna”)
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Higgins: Sell all my belongings and be a vagabond for a year or two, traveling around the world — sightseeing, working, volunteering.
Where do you live in Rye and how many years have you lived in the City?
Higgins: I have lived in Rye for 30 years. We lived near the Milton Firehouse for nine years and are now near Playland. I just love being able to hear and walk to the water!
Thanks Ann!
Learn more.
Donate. Mail a check to the Rye City Lions Club, P.O. Box 354, Rye NY 10580 or Zelle, using [email protected].
