Clay Diamond, 65, the president of the Bowling Green Noon Lions Club, uses his time of retirement to serve the community of Bowling Green, Kentucky. When he’s not busy with the Lions Club, he helps the community through activities such as yard work for others, and will overall bring smiles to community members’ faces.

Diamond cuts up tree branches on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in his neighbor’s yard in Bowling Green, Ky. Diamond’s neighbor is an elderly female who is bedridden and therefore unable to move the tree branches from her yard on her own. “I believe in giving everyday,” Diamond said. “There might be money today, and it might be working on somebody’s house tomorrow.”

Diamond, right, and Bowling Green Noon Lions Club member Chester McNulty throw the cut-up tree branches into a trash can on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, outside his neighbor’s house in Bowling Green, Ky. Diamond said that he helps his neighbor with yard work weekly. “Each time I move, I find somebody that needs help in my neighborhood,” Diamond said. “In the past, when I lived in other areas of Bowling Green, it was somebody else.”

Diamond’s shirt and glasses at the club’s biweekly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at the Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus in Bowling Green, Ky. The Lions Club meets every first and third Tuesday of the month. “We discuss the glasses that we go out and pick up each daily,” Diamond said. “We also discuss Canine Companions for Independence, which is what we do.”

Diamond, right, talks with Bowling Green Noon Lions Club member Diane Allen at the club’s biweekly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at the Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus in Bowling Green, Ky. Diamond said that it is important to meet on a biweekly basis. “There’s so much going on that we need to meet at least twice a month,” Diamond said. “If you didn’t meet twice a month, you just don’t know who’s going to be available to help.”

Diamond arrives to help set up the next day’s fundraising event on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green, Ky. This is Diamond’s third nonconsecutive year as president of the Bowling Green Noon Lions Club. “I’ve been lucky with a gift from God to be able to lead people,” Diamond said. “I bring in a lot of new members, hoping to teach them to be able to replace me at some point.”

Diamond, center, grabs a pancake from Bowling Green Noon Lions Club children’s glasses coordinator Jack Wright, left, as the club’s children’s glasses screening team member Berlie Bowman makes more pancakes at the “Pancake Day” fundraiser event on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green, Ky. This is the 75th annual “Pancake Day” event hosted by the Bowling Greens Noon Lions Club, with Diamond having helped with the event since he joined the club in 2014. “The opportunity to give back to the community, I’ve done it my entire life,” Diamond said. “The Lions Club doesn’t require me to chop trees with an ax like I once did, and now I can go out and raise money by fundraising versus physical raising.”

Diamond laughs with Bowling Green community members Yetta Meador and Dennis Meador as they eat pancakes at the “Pancake Day” fundraiser event on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green, Ky. The Bowling Green Noon Lions Club offers free vision care depending on one’s income. “It’s so important to help those in need, because I’ve been one of those people,” Diamond said. “My daughter needed glasses in 1986 when I was out of a job, and I didn’t have money. And the Lions Club stepped in and bought her glasses, and so now it’s my turn to help give back to other people that need glasses.”

Diamond, left, plays the Facebook game, “Farm Town,” with his girlfriend Lynne Cummings on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, at his house in Bowling Green, Ky. Diamond said he and Cummings have been dating for four years and that she adds support to his life. “Anybody that I know, no matter how strong they are, physically or mentally, has to have support at some point,” Diamond said. “It’s so much better to go out and about with a partner with you versus going out by yourself.”