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Community Corner

Lions Club Marks 58th Year with Dinner Dance

Group Honors Douglaston Woman Who Organized Summer Events

The Little Neck-Douglaston Lions Club celebrated 58 years of community service on Sunday night with their 14th annual dinner dance at Leonard's of Great Neck.

The group named Suzanne Karl, a Douglaston resident, its Woman of the Year.

She has long been active in the Douglas Manor Association and Douglaston Club, where she helped organize the Fourth of July Games, Pops at the Dock and Blues by the Bay.

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Karl was also honored for her work as chairwoman for the board of directors at the new Divine Wisdom Academy in the former St. Anastasia parish school.

Also honored at the event  were John Mulhern, who was named Man of the Year, and Fred Heitz, who was honored as Lion of the Year.

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Mulhern, 75, was cited for a National Guard career spanning five decades through Operation Desert Storm. He also coached decades of youth in the Bronx and locally and was honored for his five-year campaign to provide clothing and Sunday meals for the homeless.

Heitz, 44, an entrepreneur who started a lawn care business in Little Neck at age 17, was honored for another year of service to the Lions.

In addition to manning a hot dog cart during Douglaston's massive Memorial Day parade and  the 111th Precinct's National Night Out Against Crime to publicize the Lions Club, Heitz volunteers as a 24-hour, on-call courier for eye tissue.

At any time of the day or night, 365 days a year, he helps to transport corneas for transplant between local airports and hospitals.

In addition to their Lions honors, the trio received certificates from state Sen. Frank Padavan, R-Bellerose, state Assemblyman David Weprin, D-Little Neck, and City Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone.

 For a "lifetime of service to the community and the Lions Club," Padavan was honored with golf clothes as opposed to the standard plaque. "Now, you have time to enjoy them," presenter Rod O'Connell told the senator.

However, the evening's stars were Seymour and Libra, a pair of guide dogs sponsored by local Lions.

Both Libra, who escorted Bernard Ferracane of the Smithtown, L.I. Guide Dog Foundation, and Seymour, who aided attendee Linda Jones, demonstrated their abilities by helping their companions from their tables to the event's lectern.

It costs an estimated $6,000 to sponsor a guide dog, which is one-fifth of the total cost of training and matching a dog to a human client. Dogs that fail to make the grade are often paired with traumatized veterans, Lions Club President Charles McBride said.

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