Aurora Noon Lions Club has extended the reservation deadline for its centennial banquet to Thursday, July 21.
Susan Koepke of Aurora, Noon Lions president, invited the public to the celebration Thursday, July 28, at 5:30 p.m. at Gaslite Manor Banquets, 2485 Church Road in Aurora.
The event will feature a filet mignon and chicken dinner, 17 gift-basket raffles, prize drawings, a 50-50 raffle, artifact displays, a keynote address and music by a Waubonsee Community College jazz band.
Aurora Noon Lions are celebrating the service club’s 100th anniversary this year.
According to Koepke, the birthday party will open with a social hour at 5:30 p.m.. The dinner program will follow from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m..
Tickets are a $40 donation. Reservations may be made online at auroranoonlions.org.
Dinner keynote speaker will be Robert “Bob” Block, past international director of Lions Clubs International. He was elected at the 102nd international convention held in Milan, Italy, in 2019.
Block has more than 48 years of experience as an architectural and design engineer and project manager.
Encouraged by his father to join Lions Clubs, he became a Lion in 1974 with the Calumet City Lions Club. He followed in his father’s footsteps and became club president in 1980.
In recognition of his Lions service, Block received several International President’s Awards and was named a Progressive Melvin Jones Fellow.
In the community, Block was chair of the Dyer Summerfest for more than 14 years and is an active member of the Knights of Columbus.
—Al Benson