Local Lion Wanda Sasser-Scroggins was recently awarded a Lion’s Club presidential award.

“There are only a handful of these awards given out in the United States,” she said. “It’s recognizing what we have done with the extreme retreat, Covington Blind and Low Vision group and the VIP Lions Club. It is also for being an organizer and a team builder.”

Sasser-Scroggins said the award was “totally a surprise.”

She was instrumental in starting the VIP Lions Club last year, which has grown to 27 members, with the potential of four more recruits soon.

“On my desk, I have four more applications,” she said. “One is from Louisiana, one from Mississippi, one from Hoover and one from Tuskegee.”

In April 2014, it was announced that a new kind of civic club had sprung up in Andalusia, targeting residents who cannot see.

Sasser-Scroggins said that they have members nationwide.

“Not everyone is visually impaired,” she said. “They just can’t make a traditional noon-time club meeting.”

Sasser-Scroggins said club members are working on projects such as recycling eye glasses in their communities.

Lion Thomas Hyatt is on a tandem bike ride throughout the country in honor of the extreme retreat, which Sasser-Scroggins said will boast 100 people this year.

“I’m humbled,” she said of the award. “I just eat and breathe being a Lion and helping those who are blind and visually impaired.”

Sasser-Scroggins said she’s dedicated her life to helping low-vision people understand they can still lead independent lives.

“I encourage them to get some skill, so they’re not so frustrated with life.”

Sasser-Scroggins said she’s able to do things such as target practice, babysit her grandchildren, drive an electric golf cart.

“I just try to be normal,” she said. “It’s never about me. It’s about the Lord. It’s about all of us. I’ve accepted my blindness instead of crying about it.”

VIP Lions Club meetings are held every Thursday at 6 p.m. over the phone or through cyber forms such as Skype.

Dial 712-432-6430 and follow the prompts for live chat room 6.

Anyone interested in more info on the club may call Sasser-Scroggins at 428-3335.