Local Lioness Club sees uptick in membership

launches new fundraiser to help students

By Jake Spitzack | Staff Writer | March 2025

Despite volunteerism being at historic lows across the country, the SSP Southwest Lioness Lions Club is seeing an uptick in membership. It recently outgrew its meeting space at Angelo’s Italian Restaurant in South St. Paul and moved to the Fireside Lounge in West St. Paul. It’s also gearing up to launch a new fundraiser in March to support grants and scholarships for students.

“We provide scholarships for a girl in South St. Paul and a girl in West St. Paul so a lot of our fundraising goes toward those, but if somebody in the community needs help, they can come to us and we will talk about donating if it meets certain criteria for need,” said Lioness Club president Dee Krey.

The club has donated $22,750 to the South St Paul Educational Foundation for scholarships since 2005. Its most popular fundraising events are Gerten’s gift card sales in February and March, spring and fall bus trips to Treasure Island casino (the next one is in April), homemade pie sales in November, craft events and the annual Lions Club pancake breakfast in South St. Paul in December. For many years, it also held large garage sales at members’ homes and operated a Santa Store alongside the pancake breakfast. The Santa Store allowed a low-cost way for children to buy holiday gifts for their family members.

“We still have people come up to us today telling us that they still have the gifts that their children bought for them years ago at our Santa store,” said Krey. “That’s something that will stay with me forever.” 

Although “SSP” is in its name, the club has served both South St. Paul and West St. Paul since being chartered in 1986. While the Lioness Club serves at some Lions Club events, it mostly operates independently, and it doesn’t have charitable gambling. The SSP Lions Club dates to 1946.

“We’ve probably gained four or five members in the past year and have a few more that may be joining in the next few months,” said Krey. “We’re up to 21 now…. We’re small, but we’re mighty.”

Krey, a South St. Paul native, joined the club 28 years ago and has been president for two years. In fact, it’s her second non-consecutive term as president – the positions rotate among members informally every two years. She said a handful of members attend every meeting, but many only have time to volunteer for certain functions throughout the year, which isn’t a problem. Most members are local residents, but some come from St. Paul and Cottage Grove. Cindy Erickson, who founded the group, has since retired but is still a charter member.

“A lot of the retired members still keep in touch and want to know what’s going on,” said Krey. “Once you’re a Lioness, it’s something that you just always do. It’s in your heart. It’s something that means a lot to all of us…. I had the joy of bringing my mom into the club after my dad had passed away. It gave her a perfect way to get out. She eventually took on the role of being the coordinator for the different casino bus events and had a great time and brought all her friends. It was just wonderful.”

Krey said people often express interest in joining the club after seeing how much fun its members have while volunteering and giving back to the community.

“We’re a really relaxed club,” she said. “We don’t want to push anybody into joining. We let them test t
he water to see if they like it. That way we get longevity in the club, and we don’t get people just for [membership] numbers. We want people to really want to be here and serve with us.”

Aside from its popular annual fundraisers, the club may work with the SSP Lions this year to host an event around Kaposia Days. You can also expect to see them assisting with the Lion’s Club golf tournament in August.

The new fundraiser beginning in March allows people to purchase gift cards to local businesses online and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Lioness Club, which in turn will award the funds in a grant or scholarship. The Lioness Club meets at 6 p.m., the second Thursday of every month except July and August. For more information, visit e-clubhouse.org/sites/ssp_southwest_lioness.

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