Atlanta Lions Team Up with Partners for Washington Park Cleanup

Lions Jotham Reubel, Gary Martin & Al Coxe

October 28, 2017

Family, friends and members of the Atlanta Lions Club teamed up with 60 Anthem corporate volunteers and Young Generation Movement members for a community cleanup in Washington Park in Atlanta’s historic Westside neighborhood.  Volunteers organized into four cleanup and restoration projects picking litter, cleaning playground equipment, spreading mulch and fallen debris from the forest canopy.  Projects not only focused on the park’s beautification, but also the adjacent BeltLine Interim Trail abutting the new BeltLine Westside Trail.

Anthem Litter Patrol Volunteers

Joining event organizers were representatives from Park Pride and the BeltLine Organization who provided many of the logistics including tool rental and site management.  In addition, Barry Krebs of the South Cobb Lions Club joined the Club in running the litter removal efforts.  This was the second year Barry helped the club provide support and oversight for litter removal.  Barry recently received the National Community Improvement Award from Keep America Beautiful for his club’s litter cleanup efforts.  Following the 3-hour service projects volunteers celebrated their accomplishments with a group cookout.

BeltLine Interim Trail Cleanup

The fall event was the Club’s 2nd annual Atlanta Lions Club- Anthem Volunteer ServiceProject joining Lions and Anthem employees in the Atlanta area.  Lions Clubs International (LCI) is partnering with Anthem Foundation for “Lions-Anthem Volunteer Days,” a month-long community service event taking place in 17 U.S. cities this October.  As part of the partnership, Anthem Foundation donated US$250,000 to the Lions Clubs International Foundation.   In turn, a small grant was made to the Club to host the event.  The Club hopes to continue these annual events and expand its relationship with Anthem volunteers.

Fox Theatre President & CEO Speaks to the Club

Allan Vella, President & CEO of the Fox Theatre

October 26, 2017

Allan Vella, President & CEO of the Fox Theatre spoke to members of the Atlanta Lions Club during their bimonthly luncheon meeting at the Downtown Capital City Club.  Allan is responsible for overseeing the Fox Theatre operation including programming for the facility.  The theatre averages 250 performances per year and hosts over 500,000 guests annually.  Allan shared a presentation of the Fox’s history going to back to its early days as a Shriner Temple before being purchased in the depression out of foreclosure.

 Much of the lunch conversation centered on the financial impact on performance venues like the Fox should the Georgia legislature permit the Gaming Industry to operate in the state and directly compete with their casino performances.  Allan said Gaming Industry venues typically pay performing artists almost threefold market rates and lock artists into non-compete contracts which may financially impair theatres like the Fox.  A coalition of Atlanta’s largest performance venues – the Fox Theatre, the Woodruff Arts Center, the Cobb Energy Centre and others formed a group called the Georgia Arts and Venues Coalition to fight the entry of Gaming Industry performance venues.  The coalition does not want to fight casinos, only their performance venues with predatory economics.