Photo by Deb Gau Brian Sheehan, Lions international first vice president, spoke with area Lions Club members on Sunday, during their midwinter convention in Marshall. Sheehan, a Bird Island resident, will be taking office as president of Lions Clubs International this summer. He’ll be the first Lions International president from Minnesota in over a century.

MARSHALL — There were plenty of reasons to like being part of a Lions club, area residents said Sunday. One important reason was a chance to be part of something bigger, they said.

Brian Sheehan, a Bird Island resident and the keynote speaker at a Lions brunch on Sunday, is getting to experience that aspect of the Lions firsthand. Sheehan is international first vice president for the Lions, and this summer he will be sworn into office as president of Lions Clubs International.

“It’s unbelievable,” Sheehan said. “The last time we had a president from Minnesota was exactly 100 years ago last year.”

Sheehan and other Lions members from southwest Minnesota gathered in Marshall over the weekend for the District 5M3 midwinter convention. It’s a chance for Lions members to conduct district business, hear speakers and socialize, said Vickie Radloff, a member of the Marshall Lions Club.

On average, around 150 people attend the convention, she said. District 5M3 includes more than 30 Lions clubs in a 13-county area.

Lions clubs in District 5M3 served a total of more than 28,000 people in the past year, Lions leaders said. Region-wide, Lions members also raised a total of $33,130 in donations for programs ranging from the Special Olympics to youth camps, and vision, hearing and diabetes foundations.

On Sunday, Sheehan and fellow Lion Bruce Beck, of Palisade, helped area clubs plan membership strategies. Sheehan encouraged clubs to take a “global membership approach” in growing club memberships and starting new Lions clubs.

“5M3 does a wonderful job” helping their local communities through service projects and fundraising, Sheehan said. It was one of his favorite things about being active in the Bird Island Lions.

“We do things that help our community out. That’s the best,” he said.

But area Lions clubs also have a connection to the 1.4 million Lions members worldwide. Sheehan said his work with Lions Clubs International means he gets to travel and work with many of those people around the world.

“I really have to have a global concept of things,” he said.

On a local level, the Marshall Lions Club has been active for 76 years, Radloff said. Club members take part in a number of ongoing service projects, including ditch cleanup, helping with children’s vision screenings at Marshall schools, and collecting used eyeglasses that can be recycled to help people in low-income areas of the world. Around 1,500 to 2,000 pairs of glasses are collected each year in Marshall, she said.

Radloff and other Lions members said making a difference in their communities and building relationships were some of the best parts of being a Lion.

“It’s a family,” Radloff said.

The Marshall Lions Club meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at Bello Cucina in Marshall.