Awesome Year for the Lions
Submitted by Lynda Darling
The Bobcaygeon and District Lions Club had a very busy and successful year! Of course we held our Monday night Bingo every week from the beginning of May to December 3 and hope to start up again very soon after necessary renovations have been completed in the Hall. Many thanks to all of the dedicated players who attended regularly, allowing us to continue after Thanksgiving. Signs will be posted when we will start up again.
Another ongoing service is assisting clients of our local Food Bank. We have been helping clients who are unable to physically go to pick up their groceries. They call us, give us their order, we go to the Food Bank to get the groceries and then deliver to their homes.
One of our individual events that we held this year was our very successful Guide Dog Walk in partnership with the Bobcaygeon Pet Valu. Many thanks to all of the fantastic support from our local school children and teachers, citizens, businesses, friends, and families. We were able to donate over $12,000 to the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guide Program. We hope to be as successful this year, so keep Saturday, May 25 open.
Another event that was so much fun, as well as very successful, was our annual Duck Race on July 1. We never know how the ducks will perform, but there’s always lots of excitement. One of our Lions always gets a soaker.
We always try to kick off the summer with our annual BBQ outside Strangs Valumart and thanks to the Strang family’s awesome support, it is always successful.
We did our annual Spring clean up with the help of COORJC, a local Jeep club who wanted to show their appreciation to the citizens of Bobcaygeon, and a few students from our school.
We have worked with a few groups in our community to assist them in their own endeavours.
We worked with the Communities in Bloom group to help get our lovely town ready for judging and held a BBQ for all participants.
We helped Kawartha Settlers' Village with various BBQs.
We assisted our Pickle Ball players in their attempt to raise money for the Kawartha North Family Health Team.
We helped out at the Blues Concert and the Bikefest.
We cooked and served awesome food at the Cruisefest and Fall Fair.
We also had the opportunity to be the food vendors at Thunder in the Hills, held at Ray’s Place in Minden. We got to be amazed by the various rigs that competed on the rigorous off-road trails. It is definitely an event we don’t want to miss this summer.
We offered vision screening to the junior and senior kindergarten students in our school and assisted the Minden Lions in their school. We will be doing this again for the JK’s in our school this year.
Speaking of our school, we set up a Steward Award for two deserving Grade 8 students who had their names printed on a large plaque that will remain in the school. The students also received two smaller keeper plaques to remind them how awesome they are.
We supported our Kinettes by participating in our Santa Claus Parade with a great float.
Just before Christmas, we were honoured to help out at a benefit held in Fenelon Falls for a young girl dealing with cancer.
I’m sure you are thinking, “Hey, they made all this money, but what do they do with it?” Yes, some of it has to be used to keep our Hall operating, but we are hoping that more people will consider renting it to cover the costs. We do have two beautiful floors for various events from club meetings, dances, parties, weddings, etc. We have a great kitchen, a bar, elevator, and snack bar. There are washrooms on both floors. We also have event tents, tables, and chairs that can be rented out. So please keep us in mind!
Here are just some of the worthy causes to which we donate money: Lions Camp Kirk attended by many students from the Kawarthas; Disaster Relief; Canadian Cancer Society; Sick Children’s Hospital; ALS Foundation; Canadian Diabetes; A Place Called Home; Kawartha Settlers' Village; Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Lindsay; Bobcaygeon Canada Day; Alzheimer Association; Bobcaygeon Food Bank; Camp Huronia (Children Diabetes); Kawartha North Family Health Team; Lions Guide Dog Foundation; Peterborough Regional Health Centre; Ross Memorial Hospital; ALS Walk Association; Case Manor; and Pinecrest Nursing Home (for Christmas). We also gave poinsettias and cacti and small gifts to the senior clients of the Bobcaygeon Food Bank. We did sponsor a few local residents who were in need, as well. I’m sure I have missed many other groups.
At this time, on behalf of the Bobcaygeon and District Lions Club, I would like to thank all of our fantastic businesses and citizens for their awesome support! If you want to help your community with a great bunch of people in 2019, call Membership Chair, John Darling 905-441-2892.
Look out 2019, we have lots of things planned and we need your help.