Long-standing member Rosi Sanders has become the first female president in the Lions Club of Ararat's 48-year history.
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Ms Sanders was officially elected for the role, along with the rest of the committee, on Wednesday, June 23.
Rosi Sanders will serve as president for the 2021-22 term, having been a club member for almost 20 years.
Ms Sanders said she joined the club at a time when it was aiming to become more inclusive.
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"They wanted to bring ladies into the club, so I was one of four ladies at the time that joined the Lions," she said.
"The Lions was basically a male-orientated club. They were struggling to find new members and a few members decided it would be good to bring some females in."
The other three women who joined the club with Ms Sanders have since left, but the shift in demographic has continued, as four of the six committee members are now women.
"We've had women in office positions such as treasurer and secretary," Ms Sanders said.
"I became treasurer the second year I was in the club. But we never actually had a woman in the president's role, so it's very good for the club."
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Ms Sanders has also served as vice-president and secretary at the club.
In 2020, she received the James D Richardson Honour Award for her commitment to the club.
Ms Sanders said she was optimistic about the opportunities easing restrictions would afford club members.
"It's been hard the last 18 months or so to work as a group together because of COVID, so I'm hoping that we can get back together and join in projects that all the members can do as a club," she said.
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"We could also have five or six new members coming into the club, so that's fantastic news, it means we would be close to 30 members then."
Bob Sanders is the outgoing president, has now held the role six times.
Joining Ms Sanders on the committee are vice president Barb Dempster, membership chairwoman Mary Schwencke, secretary Jo Richie, treasurer John Stevens, and lion tamer Andrew Wills.
People interested in joining the Lions Club of Ararat can email araratlions@gmail.com.
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