WESTBOROUGH — Dr. Khuong Nguyen, a member of the Westborough Lions Club, was recently awarded two humanitarian awards by Lions Clubs International for his work at the LCI Parade in July.
The first award was a certificate of appreciation, the fourth highest award given by LCI President Brian Sheehan. This award was presented to Nguyen by Joyce Middleton, past international director and LCI Convention chair.
The second award was a Melvin Jones Fellowship, LCI’s highest honor, for humanitarian qualities of generosity, compassion and concern for the less fortunate. It was awarded to Nguyen by Babe Mainini, past district governor and LCI Convention Parade chair.
The 2023 Lions International Convention was held in Boston on the weekend of July 8. One of the highlights of this yearly convention was the parade of nations involving more than 8,000 Lions Club members from hundreds of countries from around the world. The parade route included Boylston Street in Boston, with staging areas on the Common and the Public Garden. Marching time in the parade was three hours long, with staging adding an equal amount of time for many marchers.
Nguyen was one of many club members responsible for organizing the marchers onto the parade route. It was a warm summer day with temps in the 80s and 80 percent humidity.
Although many thousands of bottles of water were purchased and distributed by the parade committee to the marchers, water ran out early, leaving many of the marchers vulnerable to the heat.
Seeing the lack of water and the effect it was having on the people waiting to march in the parade, Nguyen personally purchased 1,000 bottles of water at a nearby CVS and enlisted two of its workers to help distribute the water to those in need.
His actions prevented many heat-related illnesses that day.
