For the residents of Pindkepar Village in Gondia District, Maharashtra, healthcare often means traveling long distances to reach the nearest clinic. For people with disabilities, a simple lack of mobility equipment can mean isolation from community life. For farmers tending cattle at the local gaushala, basic resources like buckets and trolleys are luxuries, not givens.
These are not abstract challenges—they are daily realities that Gondia Royal Lions Club, District 3234-H1, set out to address through a comprehensive service initiative that reached 2,334 people in a single day.
The occasion was significant: International Director Gary Steele from the USA and his wife Lion Elizabeth Steele were visiting India. To honour their visit, Gondia Royal Lions Club organized the Service Week Yodha— a multi-service effort aligned with Lions Clubs International’s global causes.
The planning began weeks earlier. Club members identified Pindkepar Village as an area with limited access to health services and several unmet basic needs. Partnering with Sri Krishna Gau Rakshan Sabha and Sahyog Super Specialty Hospital, they designed a single-day program that would address healthcare, mobility, and livelihood needs in one initiative.
Forty-five club members showed up that day, logging more than 315 hours of service. At the medical camp, 540 people were screened for diabetes, vision, cardiac, and oral health – services many had never accessed before. Free medicines were distributed on-site, ensuring no one left with just a diagnosis.
Beyond healthcare, Lions addressed mobility and livelihood. Three people with disabilities received tricycles, restoring independence and connection to their communities. Three wheelchairs and two medical beds went to individuals whose mobility had been severely limited. Four sewing machines were donated to women, providing not just equipment but a pathway to income and self-reliance.
Lions tackled hunger and environmental causes, distributing food to 840 people and planting 86 saplings across the village.
The club also addressed animal care—a vital concern in agricultural communities—arranging food for approximately 1,000 cows at the local gaushala and donating two trolleys and 40 buckets to improve daily feeding operations.
District Governor Bharat Bhalgat, Club President Shubham Agrawal, and a team of dedicated Lion leaders coordinated the effort in the presence of International Director Steele and Lion Elizabeth Steele.
The project cost of Rs.3.48 lakh was funded by club members and supporters. But numbers tell only part of the story. A farmer can now work more efficiently. A woman has equipment to start earning income. A person with a disability can move through their village independently.
Service Week Yodha embodied International President A.P. Singh’s vision: Lead to Serve; Serve to Lead. For Gondia Royal Lions Club, that meant identifying where help was needed most and delivering it with compassion and care.