History:
The Marshfield Lions Club was chartered February 26, 1931 with 23 members. The first meetings were held at the Hotel Charles. Marshfield Lions Club has sponsored or co - sponsored the Chili, Medford, Pittsville, Spencer, Stratford, Thorp, Wisconsin Rapids West, and Marshfield Sunrise Lions Clubs. To date, 14 of our members have received the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellowship for outstanding service to Lionism.

Officers include the President, First-, Second-, and Third-Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Tailtwister, Lion Tamer, a Board of Directors, Membership Director and Immediate Past-President. All offices are one-year terms except for two of the Director positions. A separate Board Meeting is generally held once monthly to discuss club functions. Ideally, vice-presidents rotate into the position of president progressing from Third VP to President over a period of four years. The function of the Tailtwister is to promote collegiality and good will at meetings. This person also fines members who fail to wear their Lions pins or vests (which are provided gratis by our club to new members) at all Lions functions, who are tardy, or fail to exhibit otherwise appropriate behavior (eg. excessively verbose) as judged by their peer members, all within the boundaries of good humor and fellowship. The Lion Tamer's function is to see that the meeting site is properly prepared.

The motto of Lions is "We Serve". While other service clubs may use their pocketbooks for fundraising, with Lions there is the expectation that some sweat equity will also be expended. Fundraising activities in our club are used to support Boy Scout Troop 365 (Special Needs), other local community activities, and national/international Lions Club activities in the areas of sight and hearing conservation and more recently diabetes education. Locally eye glasses are collected and, via a distribution network, sent to third-world countries. The Lions participate in beautification projects of our local parks and the fairgrounds.

At the District and State level, bus trips to Mexico and Central America occur annually for eye clinics and distribution of eyeglasses. Distribution of Vitamin A and the conducting of eye clinics in Africa and other countries is also an important international-level activity. The Lions Camp at Rosholt Wisconsin provides services for disadvantaged children during the winter and summer and is one of the outstanding facilities in the country for this purpose. This camp is run by Wis. Lions Foundation and is supported by Lions Clubs throughout the state (such as ours) as well as private donations.

Marshfield Lions participate in a spring and fall cleanup/workday at the camp. Our club provides eyeglasses to individuals who are not covered by other aid programs and may provide financial support to other sight-disadvantaged individuals locally based on recommendations of a social-action committee. We, along with other clubs in our Zone, transport eyes from donors at St. Josephs Hospital to the Madison Eye Bank for use in transplants. Our club also participates in the Meals on Wheels program and members rotate delivering meals for one route every Saturday. We are also involved in the Adopt-a-Highway program involving trash pickup at least twice a year on Highway 13 south of Marshfield. Mint sales in local banks and restaurants also support sight-conservation projects.