Crystal Dueker
Crystal Dueker is Service Chair for the Fargo Gateway Lions Club. In that role she is in touch with their 51 clubs that make up the eastern North Dakota District. She was in Devils Lake last week to visit local Lions Club members and to help boost involvement in helping others, something that’s dear to her heart.
While in Devils Lake, one of the places she visited was the Hope Center. She met the center’s manager, Vavial “Vee” Jeffrey, and got a tour of the facility. Dueker said she was impressed. Vee told her that they continue to receive donations from Great Plains Food Bank, but it’s not enough to meet all the needs in Ramsey County. The Hope Center continues to need non-perishable food items and personal care items to distribute to the families and individuals it serves right here in the Lake Region.
Dueker asked herself, “How can clubs, like the local Lions Club, help the local food pantry?”
One of the things that impressed Dueker was how the local Lions Club, Rotary Club and Kiwanis Club often work together to accomplish their missions, which are very similar to one another. It boils down to one word for all three clubs – service.
So Dueker got an idea, she said it was impressive that the three service clubs in the city come together every summer Tuesday evening for the Arts in the Park concerts at 7 p.m. at the Elks Galleger Band Shell stage, each taking a month to plan the program and what, if anything, they will provide as far as treats are concerned. Sometimes popcorn is provided, or slices of watermellon, or root beer floats, or Norwegian sweet treats are sold.
“Why not add to this year’s Arts in the Park by adding a food drive to help benefit the Hope Center?” Dueker asked.
She pitched her idea to those she met at Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions Club meetings and it seems as if her enthusiasm won out and the clubs are going to try it this year, maybe even make it a little bit of a friendly competition.
If you are planning to attend one of the Arts in the Park gatherings in Roosevelt Park this summer, bring non-perishable food and personal care items – like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deoderant, etc., all for those the Hope Center serves in our county. Cash donations are also encouraged and welcome. You do not have to be a member of any service club to participate and you certainly do not have to belong to any service club to attend the free Arts in the Park concerts. If you might be interested in joining one of the local service clubs, there will be current members at each Arts in the Park who can help you with that.
The Arts in the Park schedule begins traditionally on or around June 14 with Flag Day (this year it’s on a Wednesday) sponsored by Rotary, then the remaining Tuesdays of June, the 20th and 27th. It continues in July with the Community Picnic following the 4th of July Parade with all service clubs and their friends helping to provide a picnic meal for families in the park for a free will offering. The Lions Club sponsors the remaining Tuesday evening concerts for July; the 11th, 18th and 25th. The summer Arts in the Park concludes in August with Kiwanis, those Tuesdays are the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and maybe the 29th, too. The actual poster for the 2023 Arts in the Park is not out, yet, at this printing, therefore some of these dates might be adjusted as that gets finalized. We here at the Devils Lake Journal will get that to you in print as soon as we can.
