Club News - February 2021

The Lancaster New Centennial Lions Club in Texas adopted a family of nine for Christmas 2020. They donated food, toys, clothes, and furniture. The club also provided Christmas gifts for students with cancer.

In Illinois, the Aurora Noon Lions worked with the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry for their first drive-thru Kids' Pop-Up pantry at the park. The free event served 130 patrons. Partnered with Calvary Church of Naperville and Fox Valley Park District, volunteers loaded bags and boxes into vehicles, distributing peanut butter, jelly, cereal, oranges, skillet meals, pancake mix, syrup, Pop Tarts, applesauce, canned fruit, juice boxes, and hand sanitizer. Future events for children are in the works.

In Texas, the Lubbock Lions Club made plans for a virtual 69th Annual Pancake Festival. The club will host a Facebook event, “Pancakes@Home” to engage the community and the Lions. Families can share as they eat pancakes at home, whether for breakfast, lunch, or supper. The festival is their largest fundraiser of the year with proceeds supporting more than 30 charities.

The Dalles Lions in Oregon gathered along with 10 drivers and spotters from Dalles Disposal and 10 volunteers from Community Corrections to pick up Christmas trees. The club has been doing this project as a fundraiser since the early 1970s and brings in US$2,000 each year from donations. The work is done by 1:00 p.m., and workers head to Big Jim’s, a local favorite for lunch. Big Jim’s donates much-appreciated gift certificates for everyone involved.

The Columbus Lions Club in Texas honored member Doug Lilie for his 54 years of illustrious and dedicated service. Lilie joined the Lions in 1967 when Lyndon Johnson was in the White House, you could mail a letter for five cents, buy a dozen eggs for 49 cents, and gas was 33 cents a gallon.

Illinois District 1BK Lions Clubs, following a challenge by the Joliet Noon Lions, raised more than US$10,000. With a matching grant from LCIF, the district presented more than US$20,000 to the Joliet Area Community Hospice to cover interior furniture and fixtures for a new patient suite in their addition. Joliet Area Community Hospice serves more than 350 people daily.

Eight Kiel Lions from Wisconsin and four spouses giftwrapped 684 Christmas presents for Van Horn Automotive Company’s Christmas party as a fundraiser.

Several members of the Goliad, Texas Lions Club donated time to Goliad County Outreach, bagging groceries for needy families.

In New York, the Brooklyn Transition Lions Club presented a check for US$6,600 to a family in need on the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada. The donation represents a small portion of the cost of medical treatment required for a 9-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma.

Hawaii Lions took part in their state’s 12th annual “Lions in Sight” statewide eyeglass and hearing aid collection. Although the clubs collect eye glasses and hearing aids year round, January 23 is their major collection day.