by Nicole Brown

“This is the greatest Lionistic pay day in my life,” said OperationROAR Executive Director Frank Slove, after his second trip to Mississippi to deliver relief supplies to local Lions clubs.

OperationROAR is the brainchild of the Mount Prospect, Illinois, Lions Club to collect relief supplies and then distribute them to Lions clubs on the Gulf Coast. The project began in the weeks immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit and has since grown to several Lions clubs, a Rotary club and other civic organizations and businesses pulling their resources to provide ongoing relief assistance. Just recently the project became international when a club in Ireland joined the effort.

In September, Mount Prospect Lions collected relief supplies and flew them to the coast. Mount Prospect Lions Club member Tod Curtis volunteered his propeller plane, time and gas to fly Slove and 1,000 pounds of relief supplies to Slidell and Lafayette, Louisiana.

Lions did not return empty-handed, as they had picked up two Louisiana residents who were unable to evacuate with their families prior to the storm. Lions flew Kenneth Boggs and Angela Huff to the Chicago-area to reunite them with their families. Upon arriving at the Palwaukee Airport in Wheeling, Illinois, family members rushed to Boggs and Huff with open arms and cries of joy as local newspapers and television stations were on hand to document the Lions’ efforts. Assistance to the Boggs and Huff families did not end there; Lions continued to visit with the families and even held a barbeque picnic to introduce them to people in the Chicago-area.

“The Mount Prospect Lions Club’s long-term goal for OperationROAR is to serve as a Lions club-to-club rapid response catalyst for humanitarian aid in time of catastrophic circumstances,” OperationROAR Chairperson Frank Salato commented to The Journal Newspaper in September.

As part of this sustained commitment to provide Lions on the Gulf Coast with supplies for aiding their communities, Mount Prospect Lions made a return trip in December, distributing help and hope in the form of $40,000 of toys, pillows, blankets, relief supplies and monetary donations. During their December trip, Mount Prospect Lions realized the needs are still significant along the coast and plans are underway for a third trip in April with a goal of raising $40,000, providing 25 volunteers and delivering $200,000 worth of aid to at least 10 communities in the Mississippi Gulf area. By combining efforts with other Lions clubs, civic organizations and business, Mount Prospect Lions are confident they can meet this lofty goal. The club is also developing a relief readiness strategy to provide future aid anywhere in the United States.

For more information about OperationROAR or make a donation, visit www.operationroar.org or e-mail Frank Slove at frankslove@operationroar.org.