Lions_verona_09-13

Jeff Green | Apr 02, 2009

Verona Lions president Wayne Conway and vice president Louise Day go Hollywood at their annual Theme Night Dinner

The Verona Lions held their annual Theme Night Dinner on Saturday night at their hall and pulled out all the stops and props, transforming their lair into a dazzling Hollywood supper club and bar.

Movie posters lined the walls and silver paper stars hung from the ceiling, while star personalities like Charlie Chaplin, Austin Powers, Eliza Doolittle, Scarlett O’Hara, and Darth Vader sipped cocktails, nibbled sushi and chatted over a surf and turf dinner that ended with a shuffle off to the chocolate fountain.

Lion Jim Lansdell as usual was a big part of the volunteer effort behind the evening and spoke to me in between serving guests. It was the 8th annual event for the Lions and this year the funds raised are going towards upgrading the Lions’ ball diamond in the fairgrounds.

All night long couples swished, twirled and spun, first to the sultry sounds of The Just for Fun Jazz Band, a five-piece ensemble that pleased the crowd with their sultry old time classics of Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Then local singer Colleen Kendall received a standing ovation for her powerful renditions of “Over the Rainbow” and “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. Bauder Road took over later in the evening and got the joint jumping prior to an Oscar being presented to Austin Powers, who won in the final clap off costume competition.

Earlier in the evening a more serious concern was addressed. Lion and chair of the Verona and District Medical Services Committee, a sub committee of the Verona Community Association, John McDougall and Lions’ Club vice president Louise Day announced the new “Find a Doc” campaign, a public campaign that hopes to end their search for a local doctor.

Dr. Laurel Dempsey, who has a total of 2400 patients in Verona and the surrounding area, will be retiring in a few years.

The committee had T-shirts printed with the words: “Wanted: Alive and Willing: Doctor for Verona Medical Clinic.” They will be distributed to every business in Verona to raise awareness for the campaign and hopefully help to fill the much-needed position. As part of the campaign the committee is offering a $1000 reward in gold to anyone in the community who refers a successful candidate to fill the position. Suggested referrals can be made on a website that will record the time and date of the referral. The reward will go to the first successful referral.

The search for a new doctor has been ongoing for the past two years and McDougall explained the difficulty the committee has been having in finding a replacement, since young doctors fresh out of school are not in a financial position to purchase a clinic outright. The committee have addressed that issue and plan to purchase the clinic themselves. Funds have already started coming in and fundraising will be ongoing.

Everyone, regardless of their star status, needs their health matters attended to. On Saturday night, though, Verona went Hollywood and as far as I could tell matters of ill health were not on anyone's mind; the primary concern for most stars in attendance was which move to bust next on the dance floor.