POST FALLS - Bob Guindon recalls the days when the Post Falls Lions Club loaded up speakers and drove around town to announce the nonprofit's Mother's Day breakfast later that morning.

"We'd get up at 5 a.m., trying to get people to come to our breakfast," Guindon said.

Guindon, 83, has been a member of the club for 49 of its 50 years of existence.

"The Lions is one of the greatest organizations there is," he said. "The past couple years I've slacked off with health problems, but I've had a lot of fun times."

The club's fingerprints are all over Post Falls, including at the haunted house on Fourth Avenue, the covered pavilion at Q'emiln Park, the senior center, multiple park restrooms, the restored Corbin Ditch headgate at Falls Park and the press box at the football field next to Mullan Trail Elementary.

"At the time, the press box was the tallest building in Post Falls," Guindon said of the 50-foot structure at the field formerly used by Post Falls High.

The club has made multiple upgrades to the senior center, where the club meets.

"It's been quite an organization," Guindon said. "Everything we make goes back into the community. I think that's a plus. The accomplishments have been rewarding to me."

The club, known for providing glasses to those in need, has also funded scholarships and other community needs. It continues to hold its Mother's Day breakfast, which is free to moms, and a Christmas-time dinner for seniors.

Several years ago, Guindon earned the Melvin Jones Fellowship, the highest honor of the Lions.

Guindon said he and his wife Bonnie enjoyed many years of attending conventions.

"It was our social life for most of our lives," he said.

Guindon's former employer, Idaho Veneer, and the Lions have had a strong relationship. The company has loaned the club equipment and the haunted house site for a fundraiser.

With roughly 50 current members, the membership of the Post Falls Lions is as low as Guindon can recall. But it has never come close to folding as some other clubs have, he said.

"You need members and attendance or pretty soon you'll die," Guindon said. "We'd like to see more people in the community be involved."

Guindon said club members used to travel to meetings of other clubs more often for fundraising ideas, but gas prices have squelched visitations.

Guindon said he still attends meetings whenever possible and will serve as he is able.

"As long as I'm alive, I'm going to be a Lion," he said.