On 19th May 1987 the first meeting of the East Ballina Lions Club was held and the first President, Gary Boneham, was elected. Sponsored by the Ballina Lions Club, the new Club received its Charter on Saturday 5th September 1987 at a ceremony at the Ballina Golf Club with twenty members. One of these Charter members, John Harding, is still an active member of the Club.
The first activity of the Club was engraving property for Neighbourhood Watch. Other early activities included building a shelter shed at Pop Dennison Park which is still used today. Members regularly worked in the parks and gardens in Ballina as part of the ‘Tidy Towns Project’. Club members provided supervision at Blue Light discos, held street stalls, ran raffles and sold Lions Christmas cakes and mints to raise funds. A major fundraiser was the fairy floss machine which was used by the Lions and hired out to other organisations.
Ladies nights were held regularly when the partners of members attended dinner meetings but it was not until August 12th 1995 that the first lady, Meg McSkimmings, was inducted.
Since its formation East Ballina Lions Club has a proud record of supporting the Ballina community and is still a very active Club, conducting a wide variety of service and fundraising activities, with all money raised in the community being donated back to the community through Lions projects.