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Can Laguna’s long-gone Lions Club chapter revive? Justin Myers wants to find out

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Justin Myers has an affinity for Lions Clubs International, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based service organization with more than 1 million members in 210 countries.

He hopes to establish a chapter in Laguna Beach.

Myers, 32, lived in Newport Beach before moving to Laguna two years ago and is a member of the club’s Newport chapter.

Volunteers throughout the world help with disaster relief and projects that address hearing loss and blindness, among other causes.

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The club has played a prominent role in Myers’ family. His father, Ken, was recently elected governor for the club’s region, which includes all of Orange County and parts of the Inland Empire.

Myers, an event planner and caterer, is president of the Laguna Beach Sister Cities Assn. and sits on the board of directors for the Laguna Playhouse and Friends of the Laguna Beach Library.

He started thinking about establishing a Laguna Beach Lions chapter a year ago.

“My goal in the next two months is to find a group of 20 people to step up and start a club,” Myers said.

With an initial investment and membership dues, Myers said the club could sustain itself.

Chapters that do well tend to make community a priority and have both male and female members, said Chris Bunch, Lions Clubs International’s corporate communications manager.

“Ultimately, it’s about fellowship and fun,” Bunch said. “Members have the opportunity to serve causes that are important to them.”

This would not be the first time Laguna had a Lions Club chapter.

Myers said he learned the club had a baseball team in the 1950s and existed until 1981. He is not sure why the chapter folded.

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