Dodge Center Lion honored with Melvin Jones award

Dodge Center Lion David Wahlstrom was recently honored with the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award. The award was presented to Wahlstrom by Lions District Governor Terry Zabel at a recent meeting. The Melvin Jones Program was established in 1973 in honor of Jones, the founder of Lions Club International. Zabel presented Wahlstrom with a pin, a commemorative plaque and a letter from the Lions Club International Foundation chairperson.

Wahlstrom has been a member of the Dodge Center Lions for 47 years, he said, joining soon after he moved to the area. He explained when he first came to town the manager of the bank said there was a meeting and he should come. He did and he has been a Lion ever since. He came to the city, he said, when he bought the Coast-to-Coast store. He later sold the store, he said, and worked at John’s Foods and then drove trucks for McNeilus.

During his years in the Lions, he said he has held most of the offices and been on most of the committees.

One of the projects he was involved in getting started is the Fly the Flag Program where the Lions will post a flag on your property for each of the six summer flag holidays. Funds raised from this project go towards local projects the group is involved in including Lions Park, Triton Scholarship Fund, the community Halloween carnival, food shelf and many others.

He also said that Santa Anonymous is the Lions program currently under way.

The Dodge Center Lions Club is a very active club, he said, but it is a little bit harder to get people committed to joining community groups than in the past. People are not as likely to become involved, he said, especially after COVID.