Autumn is always a busy time for the Boothbay Lions and this year is no exception. We had our annual fish chowder booth at the Fall Foliage Festival this past weekend (more on that in our next column) and we have two ongoing raffles (see any Lion for details). Meanwhile we're already gearing up for Christmas and our second annual community party with Santa. And that's just the stuff we can talk about so far.

We had a great turnout for our October 9 meeting, including Maine Lions Vice District Governor Steve Johnson and his lovely wife, Maureen. Lion Steve talked about vision screenings and White Cane Days, which are key ways other clubs help their communities and the Lions mission of supporting people with visual impairments.

Our guest speaker was Boothbay Fire Chief Dick Spofford, who gave us a presentation about fire safety (October 6-12 was Fire Prevention Week). Spofford also discussed the history of the local fire stations, the staffing of the fire department, and how it serves the community.

He encouraged everyone to make sure that they have smoke detectors in their homes, as well as carbon monoxide detectors. Our thanks to Chief Spofford for coming out to speak with us.

In other news, thanks to Lions Mary Tilton, Norm Irish, John and Lynn Perreault and Elizabeth McKim who did some much-needed repair and paint work on our front steps and ramp. Celeste and Jeff Brown came through with another new sign for the club. Thanks, too, to the Boothbay Town Office, which is displaying the quilt we currently have up for auction. We also received several thank-you notes for our recent donations, including one from the father of a girl for whom we recently purchased eyeglasses.

The meeting closed with a bunch of fines. There was no winner in our weekly 50/50 (remember, you need to be present to win). Joyce Dinnar won the cheer raffle, but donated it back to the club.

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 23, when our guest speaker will be Win and Lori Mitchell from Watershed Tavern. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. for a social hour and we sit down for our meal and meeting at 6:30 p.m. We'd love to have you join us. For more information on the Boothbay Region Lions Club, please contact club president Mike Giles or any other Lion, find us on Facebook, or visit us online at www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/boothbay/index.php/.