07/25/2023
Aurora Noon Lions Club member Jay Short poses with a broom-marketing display he updated to raise funds for Lions' vision- and hearing-conservation programs. (Al Benson photo)
Short plans to unveil the rack to the public at an upcoming summer farmer’s market in downtown Aurora. At the market, Lions’ brooms are available at Dick’s Mini Donuts food truck, courtesy of Dick Schindel, a Noon Lions member. Also, brooms are available at Fox Metro Water Reclamation District, 682 Rt. 31, in Oswego.
Brooms available include a children's model, $6; kitchen model, $11; corn model, $13; push broom (fine), $15; and push broom (HD), $14. A dust pan with 60-in. handle is $12. Brooms are made by O’Cedar in Paxton, Ill.
Lions clubs nationwide started selling brooms as fundraisers after World War II. Sales were suspended in the 1970s.
Aurora Noon Lions began selling brooms door to door in Aurora in the 1960s to benefit Lions vision- and hearing-conservation programs for youth and adults before sales were suspended.
Noon Lions past president Jerry Spirk of Morris revived broom sales by the Aurora club in 2012 after a half-century hiatus from the 1960s.
