The pride of local Lions is a roar for good

Rosalee Bogo, Lion of Judah Co-chair

This has been an exciting time for our Lion of Judah women here in Greater Naples. We are now 85 strong, part of more than 18,000 Lion of Judah women worldwide, and we look forward to gathering, to meeting our new Lions, and to celebrating the incredible power of women’s philanthropy.

Last year, Lions in Greater Naples contributed $654,000 of the more than $1.5 million contributed to our Annual Community Campaign and, with 19 new Lions, we expect this to be even more significant in 2022.

During this past summer and early fall, our Lion of Judah committee and Annual Community Campaign Director Kirk Wisemayer began working on a series of wonderful events for this season. Naturally, out of an abundance of caution for the safety and welfare of each member of our community, many of these events had to be postponed and new plans made.

We are now planning a special day to celebrate being together and to being Here for Good. Hopeful that we can resume in-person events in late March or April, we are planning a wonderful Lion of Judah program that combines friendship, learning and service to those in need. A lovely outdoor luncheon, to replace our art tour and luncheon that was scheduled to take place in February, is being planned in conjunction with a service project to benefit Youth Haven.

Youth Haven provides hope, home and healing to abused and neglected children and teenagers. It is Southwest Florida’s only emergency shelter for boys and girls ages 10 to 20, who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. Our service project will address the material needs of the Youth Haven children, providing them with things our kids take for granted. More information on the event will follow, but we will be organizing a drive to secure the items most needed.

We are “Here for the Good” of these children, in keeping with our traditions of Tikun Olam and Chesed, performing acts of lovingkindness to help improve our community and our world.

When you receive your invitation, please plan on joining us to loudly declare, as Lion of Judah women here in Greater Naples, the incredible impact we have in strengthening our community. We look forward to “gathering our pride of lions to roar” for all the good we do, together.

For more information on the Lion of Judah Society or upcoming Lion of Judah events, please contact Kirk Wisemayer at 239-263-4204 (x305) or kwisemayer@ jewishnaples.org.