Lions Club Presidents and 2nd Vice District Governor
Our lions have had a very busy 2018 and the last couple of months have been no different with lots of events throughout November and December; from catered BBQs, to working bees and Christmas parties. A big thank you to all our Lions and friends who volunteered their time during the busy period, and a special mention to Lion Marilyn for the many hours she spent running around organising, collecting and storing all the food for these events.
November started with our monthly club dinner at the Rydges South Park. We welcomed several guests, our guest speaker Evelyn (President of Adelaide Hellenic Lions Club and Zone 2 Chairperson), as well as inducting two new lions, Rizwan and Jim. Welcome to the Lions family. A couple of days later, a few of our members cooked and served those in need at the Hutt Street Breakfast at one of our quarterly breakfasts at the centre.
On Saturday November 10th, we had a number of our members assisting with the BBQ at the Craniofacial Australia Family Christmas Party in Botanic Park. A spectacular day with beautiful weather, lots of amusements and laughs, and smiling faces. It proved to be a very busy weekend as we also held a Hear Me Roar! Project Working Bee that weekend on the Sunday. We had a fantastic turnout with 27 people helping out across the day including members from other lions clubs (Paralowie, Prospect-Blair Athol and West Beach). Hundreds of cushions were stuffed and sewn, another successful event.
On Tuesday November 13th and 20th, we were very excited to run 2 trial sessions for our new project, Lion Cubs Club, at Annesley Junior School. This project will involve launching a new club in February 2019 for 5-12 year olds. Children will be inducted as Cub Members, elect a President, plan and implement community service projects, learn about leadership and much more. Both sessions saw a great turn out of children who were very enthusiastic about next year, as were their parents. We look forward to working with the school and students throughout 2019.
Sunday November 18th was Donate Life Thank You Day. Our Club was honoured once again to support Donate Life at their Rose Ceremony for donor families in Bonython Park. Our Lions cooked and served a gourmet BBQ for everyone in attendence. This Sunday proved to be a busy one as we had another BBQ event in the afternoon, this time a gourmet BBQ for Bendigo Bank staff and family Christmas party. A lovely afternoon.
With the year ending drawing to a close things get busier and busier, and for our Lions it was no different (you just read about our busy November above). We had so many event requests over 2 months, we had to unfortunately turn down many and refer them to other Lions Clubs who fortunately were able to assist.
We supported Can:Do 4 Kids on December 2nd at their families Christmas party, always a lovely event to support. The following evening we held the Lions Club Zone 2 Christmas Cocktail Party with members of City of Adelaide, Adelaide West, Adelaide Italian, Adelaide Hellenic and Prospect-Blair Athol Lions Clubs. What a great evening with fellow lions, family, friends and new friends. We certainly had a lot of laughs, especially when the party games begun.
On December 8th we catered for a large event for Elder Care. There were amusements, Santa, ice cream and coffee vans, and our Lions sausage sizzle. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too great and a large number of those who RSVP’d did not arrive for the event. Although disappointing, the event was still a big success and everyone who attended had a fantastic afternoon.
Unfortunately due to the weather, the Park’s Community Children’s Centre, that we cook a BBQ for every year, was cancelled. But we made up for it the following evening by cooking a gourmet BBQ for City of Adelaide Council Staff function at Victoria Park. And our final event for 2018 was supporting Fred’s Van on December 16th.
In November and December, through our Hear Me Roar! Project, we donated hundreds of handmade cushions, care packs and misc. items to patients through Craniofacial Australia, the Northern Adelaide Cancer Centre at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, the Women’s & Children’s Hospital, and the Breast Care Centre at St Andrew’s Hospital. We also donated over a hundred items for children through Second Chances SA. An amazing effort by everyone involved.
On Christmas Eve, President Andrew, Lion Petrea and their daughters, were fortunate to meet Lion Nigel and his wife who were visiting from the Southend on Sea Lions Club in the United Kingdom. It was lovely to meet them for coffee and to learn about their Lions Club and many projects in their community.
Thank you to our lion members, families, friends and all our supporters and the individuals and organisations that we support. It has been another fantastic year and we look forward to continuing to support the community in 2019.
On behalf of the Lions Club of the City of Adelaide members, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year.
