Published: August 05, 2009 01:46 pm      

2009 Lion of the Decade award goes to Ken Steadman

Fulfilling the Lions motto of “We Serve” in an exemplary fashion during the past 10 years, Lion Ken Steadman was recognized as the 2009 Lion of the Decade recipient at the Lions annual picnic on July 20 at the Lake St. George pavilion. This is only the eighth time the award has been presented in the 33-year history of the Fairfield Glade Lions Club, reported Lion Bob Seabrook, the 2008 recipient of this very prestigious award. Lion Steadman has previously received both the Melvin Jones Fellowship award and the Lion of Year award.

Ken not only does a yeoman job for Lions, he actively supports several other area groups, particularly in writing newspaper articles for Kids On the Rise, Elks, and Visually Impaired Support Group. In Lions, he is always prepared to help with the cheese sale, vision screening of pre-school kids, and White Cane and the visually impaired support group.

Born in Detroit, MI, Lion Ken originally joined the FFG Lions in 1988-89 and became very active with fundraisers, publicity, host for the Travelogue Series, Leader Dog Puppy Program, and he created the Travelogue program and gathered advertisement from merchants. He left the club in 1997 because of his wife’s cancer and rejoined again in 2004 after his wife, Billie, passed away.

Possibly one of the most significant accomplishments began while he was collecting for White Cane. It was then that two ladies approached Ken, one being led by the other. The one being led, Donna Taylor, was legally blind. She asked if the Lions Club could help her get a Leader Dog. Ken assured her that he would look into it and let her know. He determined that it was possible and proceeded to help make it happen. Since then, Ken, Donna and Norman have teamed-up to educate the public about blindness and to promote acceptance of those who are blind.

One of Ken’s responsibilities has been “Driving Miss Donna.” They have made 47 personal appearances at schools, churches, business and Lions club meetings since the fall of 2006 representing the Glade Lions Club and the Leader Dog Program. It is estimated that they have reached over 5,000 children so far and plan to revisit the Cumberland County Schools again this Fall.

In addition, Lion Ken has been a mediator and vice-president of the VORP Mediation Center for 20 years and is currently on the Board of Kids on the Rise, and IS of Cumberland County. He writes the publicity for all of these organizations plus the Glade Lions Club. Lion Seabrook stated “that we are especially proud of the dedication of Lion Steadman and thank him for his work.”