Visiting the Athens Lions Club’s Kiddie Carnival is a favorite summertime treat for families and kids throughout Northern Alabama. This July, employees from the Athens and Huntsville offices of Mauldin & Jenkins, a leading assurance, tax, and advisory firm, were part of the team making the fun happen. Helping to make this annual event a success holds deep personal meaning for long-time volunteer Genny Besh, a Medical Consulting and Taxation Manager at Mauldin & Jenkins.
“The Kiddie Carnival is a huge part of our family and this community,” says Genny. She and her husband Mike have been involved in the Athens Lions Club—and the Kiddie Carnival—for 23 years. With over 1.4 million members worldwide, the Lions Club works to alleviate diabetes, vision problems, hunger, and childhood cancer, as well as protect and restore the environment.
As a local chapter of the global service organization, the Athens Lions Club focuses on helping the visually impaired and working with Camp Seale Harris for children with diabetes, among many other local charities. The club offers vision screenings to all children in the Athens and Limestone County school systems. Additional services include following up on requests from teachers and administrators with assistance for children who need glasses and other forms of eye care.
A cause that’s personal
The organization’s commitment to supporting vision-related needs in the Athens community was a compelling draw for Genny and Mike because the couple has a personal understanding of how much difference the right care at the right time can make in a child’s life; Sarah, the second of Genny and Mike’s three daughters was born with cataracts. “We wanted to help any family that needed vision assistance to make sure their children could see,” Genny shared.
Sarah now wears glasses or contacts and will always have vision issues, but thanks to early interventions, those residual issues haven’t limited her success: Sarah is a CPA who graduated with a Master’s in Taxation.
An evolving tradition
Besides offering fun rides, delicious foods, bingo, and special memories of family time together, the carnival helps raise funds for the club to continue its valuable work in the community.
“Businesses such as Mauldin & Jenkins help tremendously when they volunteer,” Genny continues. “Numerous businesses and organizations help during the six weeks, along with many high school organizations and athletic teams. Without all the volunteers the carnival could not be a success.”
Supporting local communities through events like the Kiddie Carnival is also a tradition at Mauldin & Jenkins. Along with providing comprehensive accounting services, the firm is committed to making a lasting impact in the communities it serves and participates in a variety of service projects across each of its 14 locations. The firm actively encourages employees to get involved in charitable causes that resonate with them personally. To learn more, visit mjcpa.com.
