Dallas philanthropist Lyda Hill received the 2020-21 Oak Cliff Lions Club Bill Melton Humanitarian Award on Dec. 8. Pictured are Bill Melton; 2020 Committee Chair Darla Wisdom; Lyda Hill; 2021 President Paul Nielsen; 2021 Chair Charlie Tupper; and 2022 President Nia MacKay.
Hill is the 43rd recipient of the Humanitarian Award that honors a person whose activities, contributions and service to the community best symbolize the ideals of Lionism. The award is typically given to non-Lions who demonstrate dedication to community, profession, God, and mankind that exemplify Lions International motto; We Serve. The award was first presented in 1978 to Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry. The list of past recipients reads like a "Who's Who" of the Dallas community. in 2010, the award was renamed by the Club Board of Directors for the award founder, former Dallas County Treasurer Bill Melton.
Hill founded Hill World Travel in 1967, which was the largest travel agency in Dallas and one of the largest in the country when she sold it in 1982. She was one of the first women invited to join the Young Presidents' Organization. She developed and constructed the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center in Colorado Springs. In 2011, after the center donated $3.5M to the Garden of the Gods Foundation, Hill gave the Visitor Center to the Foundation.
Hill served as Chair of the World Presidents' Organization-Dallas; the Visiting Nurse Association; the Easter Seals Society for Children; and the American Heart Assocation of Dallas and Texas. She has been a board member of Dallas Assembly, Greater Dallas Chamber and Citizens Council of Dallas. She is President of LH Holdings and the Lyda Hill Foundation, and serves on the M.D. Anderson Board of Visitors.
In 1985, Texas Gov. Bill Clements named hill Outstanding Volunteer in Texas. She has been honored numerous times for her charitable giving and community involvement, receiving Dallas' highest civic honor, the Linz Award, in 2016.
For the past 93 years, the Oak Cliff Lions Club has supported a variety of local, state, national and international charities involving youth, vision, and other worthy causes and charities. The club has contributed an estimated $2M to charitable causes through the dedicated efforts of club members.