It has been quite a year for Markerville's Kathleen Raines.
She started off the year being named as the Spruce View & District Lions Club's Citizen of the Year for 2015, and now she can add the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellowship Award (MJF), an honour given by the Lions Clubs International Foundation to citizens displaying exceptional citizenship.
Suzanne Levac, secretary for the local Lions Club, said the award is usually given to members devoted to service but occasionally the honour is extended to a non-Lion who has touched the lives of others by advocating and contributing to safety and quality of life for everyone in their community and surrounding area.
“The fellowship is the Lions Clubs International Foundation's highest honour and represents humanitarian qualities such as generosity, compassion and concern for the less fortunate. Melvin Jones Fellows receive a lapel pin and a personalized wall plaque in honour of their commitment to helping others,” said Levac, adding local club members unanimously agreed to submit Raines' name for the MJF Award. “Without question, our members were extremely pleased that our nomination was approved and that Kathleen became part of a non-Lion elite few with an MJF Award to their credit.”
Raines, a sheep farmer who lives west of Markerville, said she was honoured and humbled at receiving the award.
“The Melvin Jones Fellowship Award is normally given to Lions Club members, so that totally came out of the blue,” she said. “As I understand it the district of the Lions Club gives money to the foundation so that my name in a very small way is attached to some of the good work done by the Lions Club here and around the world. That is very humbling.”
Raines, 57, has long been an active and passionate volunteer in the Markerville area. She has been the lead of the food services volunteer team at Fensala Hall since 2006. The team prepares 15 to 20 events each year, including weddings, anniversaries and family reunions. She also ensures International Women's Day on March 8 is celebrated in the area each year.
Since 2013, she has been instrumental in organizing the successful Taste of Markerville event, a one-day country food fair that showcases the area's finest local foods and products.
Raines said the committee for Taste of Markerville is meeting next month to discuss the 2016 event, tentatively scheduled for July 23.
